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Okay, I know this night can be a difficult one, I know also that sometimes the local Ronald McDonald chapter ends up with 150 "Courage bands" that they couldn't possibly use within a year. If you are going to make those it's best to ask your local RMH how many they would like to have on hand for the upcoming year and the rest you can donate to the local children's hospital.
When I was rush advising the first thing I had my Rush Chair do was write a letter along with our philanthropy chair asking what our local RMH really NEEDED. We made no mention of recruitment as such, as no RMH should not be asked to come up with ideas that fit into our recruitment, we should simply offer services to them, but we asked them generally if they needed welcome baskets for parents, toys for siblings, courage badges, etc. What types of donations would be welcome? From their response we gathered that parents spent a lot of time waiting around nervously in the hospital so we put together bags with stuff they could use to distract themselves during the many hours of waiting. They consisted of:
Puzzle Magazines:
we found these at Wal Mart. They cost as little as .99 a magazine. Publishers Penny Press and Dell Magazines make good Crosswords puzzle magazines that suit many levels.
Short Stories:
we printed some good, short stories (THAT WERE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN), and put together booklets.
Stickers:
we put stickers they could give their children as well as siblings that were along with them.
Pens and Pencils:
so they could finish their crosswords.
Note pads.
Maps
of the areas around the local Hospial and around the RMH.
Lists of Restaurants
around the local hospital and around the RMH.
A Card
that had some simple yoga moves that would stretch your back and neck.
Hard Candy.
Mints.
Hope this is helpful.
violets
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