Leslie's Second Post

Leslie Akin
May 23rd, 2015
Ronald McDonald House at Stanford
Monica Makela
MMakela@rmhstanford.org

Sadly, my last visit was completed a week ago. It was sad knowing that was my last visit during the time, but walking out to the parking lot after signing out I smiled and felt like I completed my duty and what they wanted from me there. I knew that was my last visit because I had been there since late November, completing my 6 months needed, and Stanford was about to build a brand new, more than 100-room addition to the space. Every time I pass by the big colorful Ronald McDonald House sign on my way down Sand Hill road, I think about the kids I met there and how my character developed while helping out those kids. The new additional building Stanford is constructing right now recently lead to a bunch of volunteer meetings that were required to attend. During these two hour meetings every weekend for three weeks I learned about communication, especially towards kids, during volunteer hours, advice you should and should not give, and the commitment volunteers must offer. These instructions will stay with me for all my other volunteer jobs through out my life.
To wrap up my last post, the social issues I saw while there I tried my hardest to solve. Families were separated and children felt abandoned and unwanted because their sibling had been in the hospital for so long and got much more attention. Although no kid said that out loud, I could tell by watching the families over a six month span. Children started to get more hostile towards the parents and were not as grateful for what the Ronald McDonald House gives to them; however, while I was there I tried to get their minds off their siblings and get the children to talk to me about their life. As we did crafts and played outside I would remind them how lucky they are to have all this Play-Dough or the three play structures RMH provides for them. I realized these little reminders put the children's perspective back in place and they started to care more for the people working there and the facilities they are given. As I mentioned my preconceptions included that I would be working with only sick children, but in fact I worked 80% of the time with their younger and older siblings. The occasional child who was receiving care at the hospital would come in, and then I would have to carefully talk to the parents about what they can and cannot do. There were some real tough situations where I had to tell a child he or she could not go play baseball outside with the other kids, or could not play chase inside the "castle." I discovered I have a mother hen personality while watching over kids, I was always very cautious and concerned with what was safest and what the child wanted to do, while teaching them important life habits like cleaning up their own mess or saying sorry (kids never say sorry!). I have been babysitting my own cousins the last few months as well, and have certainly seen this mother hen supervisor attitude translate to my care for my own cousins. Lastly, I believe I did have an impact through my service. I relieved kids of their constant thoughts about their siblings and they counted on my to distract them. I had conversations with the parents and felt like I they trusted me to listen to them. I also contributed a lot to the formation of the volunteer meetings by adding my own experiences with tough children or parents who expect me to give advice. Overall, I feel veery accomplished with my work and that I successfully completed making personal relationships with the families there as well as other volunteers.