Volunteer | Ronald McDonald House Charities

Volunteer »

The opportunities to volunteer at Ronald McDonald House Charities, Upper Midwest are many:

Prepare and serve meals for our families
Help students with schoolwork
Lend a hand on administrative tasks or keep our spaces tidy

Choose to volunteer for the program that best suits you:

Ronald McDonald House – Oak Street
Ronald McDonald House – Chicago Avenue
Ronald McDonald Family Room – Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, St. Paul
The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile

How To Become A Volunteer

For the security of the families we serve and to ensure the best experience for them, we ask prospective volunteers to take a few preliminary steps. If you’re considering volunteering as an individual at any of our locations, we ask you to:

Fill out an application and any additional forms needed for the particular location. Find forms below under each location.

To indicate your interest and get the ball rolling, please download, complete and mail the forms to:

RMHC Volunteer Director
818 Fulton St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Questions about volunteering or how you can help? Please contact Carynn Roehrick or call 612-767-2788.

Volunteer at RMH – Oak Street

Whether you want to volunteer as an individual or as part of a group, the Ronald McDonald House – Oak Street welcomes your time, talent and energy. We have many opportunities to help.

To serve as a volunteer, you must be 14 years or older; and we hope you will commit to help regularly for at least six months.

Following submission of application forms, you’ll be invited to an orientation. There, you’ll learn about the families who stay with us, the types of illnesses they are confronting and ways to work effectively and appropriately with them.

Volunteer as an Individual:

If you’re volunteering as an individual, choose one of the opportunities below to help support Ronald McDonald House – Oak Street. Contact Carynn Roehrick at 612.767.2788 to learn more.

Upcoming Oak Street Orientation dates

Thursday, May 17^th, 5-7 p.m.
Wednesday, May 30^th, 5-7 p.m.
Tuesday, June 12^th, 5-7 p.m.
Thursday, June 28^th, 5-7 p.m.

Contact Carynn Roehrick or call 612-767-2788 to register for the next session.

Check out these opportunities:

Housewarmers: As a housewarmer, you can help keep the House running smoothly. You’ll do light cleaning and other maintenance activities. Your activities will also help our families adjust to life at the House.

Dinner-in-a-Pinch Servers (DIPS): If you can be available on short notice to help prepare and serve a meal, sign up for DIPS. We’ll contact you by email in situations in which there has been a cancellation or an unfilled meal date for serving families. For more information about DIPS, please contact Carynn Roehrick at 612.767.2788.

Office Volunteers: Help with daily tasks, including answering phones, coordinating mailings and helping with projects.

Drivers: Help transport families to Target by driving our House shuttle. Families sign up for these shuttles on Monday and Thursday evenings at 6:30pm. To serve as a driver, please be prepared to commit to a set schedule.

Gardeners: Help keep our gardens beautiful by becoming a member of our garden corps. If you like planting, weeding and general garden maintenance, we’d love to have your help!

Share Your Talents: Whether it’s knitting hats or scarves or baking homemade cookies, the products of your hands and heart are always welcomed.

Volunteer as a Group:

Group opportunities — designed for groups of 5 to 12 volunteers — often include food and fun. Volunteers must be 14 years or older for on-site activities.

If you have questions about group volunteer opportunities, contact Carynn Roehrick or call 612-767-2788.

Check out these opportunities:

Cooks for Kids: Round up a group of 5 to 12 volunteers and prepare Monday-Sunday dinners, served from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, weekend brunches (11:30 am) for families as part of our Cooks for Kids volunteer program. Dinner is served for approximately 90 people. We ask all volunteers for this program be at least 14 years old and anyone under 18 have adult supervision.

Cooks for Kids volunteers are asked to purchase the food, prepare it, serve it buffet-style in our community kitchen and clean up after the meal. Your group may use our state-of-the-art community kitchen to make the meals, or prepare them at home and re-heat them in our kitchen. For more information, please contact Carynn Roehrick at 612.767.2788.

To view the Cooks for Kids Calendar for RMH – Oak Street, please click here.

Lend-A-Hand Volunteers: Bring your group to help us keep the House well maintained. We welcome groups of 5 to 12 people on weekdays (monthly or quarterly) to help with light cleaning, seasonal grounds clean-up, organizing kitchen pantries and other projects.

Breakfast Bags: Get our families off to a good start each morning by packing breakfast bags they can grab and take along to the hospital. Here’s how: Your group purchases granola bars, fruit snacks, crackers, trail mix, fruit cups and other items and sorts them into individual brown bags. This is a volunteer program kids of all ages can participate in. Decorating the bags before filling them can be a fun group project involving children.

Pop Tab Collecting: Groups including volunteers of all ages can help support our programs by collecting pop tabs. The small tabs off aluminum cans — pop, soup and others — quickly add up to real money for Ronald McDonald House Charities, Upper Midwest when we recycle them. Collect the tabs as a group and drop them off at any local McDonald’s restaurant or at the Ronald McDonald House – Oak Street. Please contact Carynn Roehrick at 612.767.2788 for more information.

Volunteer at the RMH – Chicago Avenue

The RMH – Chicago Ave is located inside of Children’s Hospitals and Clinics, Minneapolis – near the NICU.

The address is:

2525 Chicago Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Directions

Opportunities to get involved at our House Inside Children’s Hospital are available for individuals and groups – 14 and older. Please contact Carynn Roehrick at 612.767.2788 for more information.

Volunteer as an Individual:

To safeguard the health of families and children in the care of Gillette Family Specialty Healthcare, we require prospective volunteers to provide immunization records for MMR, Chicken Pox and Mantoux (TB), be at least 14 years old, commit to at least six months of service and clear a background check.

Upcoming RMH – Chicago Avenue Orientation dates

Orientation is the final step in the process of becoming a volunteer. You must sign up for an orientation session once your application is complete.

Tuesday, May 22^nd, 6-7 p.m.
Thursday, June 7^th, 6-7 p.m.
Wednesday, June 20^th, 6-7 p.m.

Contact Carynn Roehrick or call 612-767-2788 to register for the next session.

Front Desk Receptionist: If you like to greet people and help them find their way, consider volunteering as our front desk receptionist. Besides greeting families and checking them in and out, you’ll help by answering the phone and assisting the House Director with light office work.

Housewarmer: As a Housewarmer, you’ll help keep the House clean, neat, organized and stocked, check families in and out of the bedrooms, bake cookies and help with other miscellaneous projects. Housewarmers shifts are as follows. Please contact Carynn Roehrick to check availability.

Monday-Friday

9 am – 11 am
11 am – 1 pm
1 pm – 3 pm
3 pm – 5 pm
5 pm – 8 pm

Saturday and Sunday

10 am – 1 pm
1 pm – 4 pm
4 pm – 7 pm

Please contact Carynn Roehrick at 612.767.2788 for more information.

Volunteer as a Group:

Cooks for Kids: Round up a group of 5 to 10 volunteers and prepare Monday – Sunday dinners, served from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm or weekend brunches (11:30 am) for families as part of our Cooks for Kids volunteer program. Dinner is served for approximately 80 people. We ask all volunteers for this program be at least 14 years old and anyone under 18 have adult supervision.

To view the Cooks for Kids Calendar for RMH – Chicago Ave, please click here.

Volunteer at the Ronald McDonald Family Room

Our Ronald McDonald Family Room is located inside of Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare – near the PICU.

The address is:

200 University Avenue East
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101

Please contact Carynn Roehrick at 612.767.2788 for more information.

Volunteer as an Individual:

Housewarmers: As a Housewarmer, you’ll help register families, answer the telephone, keep rooms clean, neat, organized and stocked, conduct tours, communicate with staff and help create a warm, friendly and supportive atmosphere for families. We need Housewarmers for any of the following Monday – Sunday shifts:
9 a.m.-1 p.m.
1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
5 p.m.- 9 p.m.

Please contact Carynn Roehrick at 612.767.2788 for more information.

Volunteer as a Group:

Cooks for Kids: Round up a group of 3 to 5 volunteers and prepare Monday – Sunday dinners, served from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, or for families weekend brunch at 11:30 a.m. as part of our Cooks for Kids volunteer program. Dinner is served for approximately 50 people. We ask that all volunteers for this program be at least 14 years old and anyone under 18 have adult supervision.

To view the Cooks for Kids Calendar for the Ronald McDonald Family Room, please click here.

Ronald McDonald Care Mobile

The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile operates with the volunteer help of dental care professionals.

Currently, it does not rely on community volunteers. However, if you would like to discuss ways you might help, contact Gretchen Ambrosier or call 612-767-2790.