Auburn lends a hand to Ronald McDonald
Ronald McDonald needs your help, and the Auburn area has already gotten the ball rolling. The Ronald McDonald House Charities program, which offers housing to families with children in medical crises, is offering a Dream House Raffle. The home being raffled off to a lucky winner is located in the Vineyard subdivision in Auburn. “We are so excited because this is a great way for the community to raise funds, and to bring awareness (to the Ronald McDonald House Charities),” said Stacey Hodge, director of community relations for Ronald McDonald House Charities in Northern California. For $150 per raffle ticket, participants raise funds for the charity while at the same time entering for a chance to win a fully furnished, five-bedroom, 5,760-square-foot Mediterranean-style villa on 1.7 acres. Total, the property is valued at $1.9 million. Those interested can get tickets now until May 15, with the grand prize winner being picked on May 30. The house became available to the foundation through a family that wishes to remain anonymous. “They came to our attention and were very generous and helped us with the raffle,” Hodge said. If the house isn’t your cup of tea, grand prize winners may opt for a cash prize of $1.5 million. Thirty-three thousand raffle tickets will be sold from now until May 15, and can be purchased by any U.S. citizen, age 18 years or older, in any part of the country. The proceeds from this raffle will go toward the Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern California branch to help support the Sacramento Ronald McDonald House and Camp Ronald McDonald at Eagle Lake near Susanville. While local McDonald’s restaurants contribute to the Ronald McDonald House Charities program, which is celebrating its 10th year in Sacramento, the majority of the program depends on donations and raffles such as this one for funding. “This raffle is a great opportunity for the community to get involved,” said Jake Mossawir, a representative for local-area McDonald’s franchises. “We support the Ronald McDonald House Charities, but don’t fully fund them. They look to fundraisers like this one.” While the home or the $1.5 million in cash are the grand prizes, the raffle will offer 330 cash prizes overall, ranging in price from $300 to $25,000. Odds of winning a prize worth at least $300 or more are one-in-100. Those who buy multiple tickets are eligible for a drawing worth $40,000 in luxury prizes. Early bird drawings for other prizes begin on Jan 30, with five more early bid drawings going all the way until the deadline for the grand prize on May 15. To buy a ticket or get more information, call (888) 422-0221, or download the entry form online at www.sacramentoraffle.com. The Journal’s Andrew DiLuccia can be reached at andrewd@goldcountrymedia.com, or post a comment at Auburnjournal.com.
----------
Want to buy tickets? Call:(888)422-0221 Go online to: www.sacramentoraffle.com.
WHAT COMES WITH YOUR DREAM HOME Large gourmet kitchen Multiple flat-screen TVs Bidet in the master bathroom Fireplace in the master bedroom Built-in animal cubby with gate High ceilings
|
Change Location:
|
Its nice to see the efforts going forth to provide $$, until The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Sacramento publishes its overhead costs I would not contribute a dime. The SF Ronald McDonald House region is at 18.8% , and would expect Sacramento to be well over 20% possibly 30%..thats a lot of money for overhead and not going to charity. I give quite a bit to charitys that I know my money is not being to staff...
Auburnite -- I work with a variety of non-profit organizations and have had the privilege to work with the staff at the Sacramento Ronald McDonald House. There are none finer. They run a very tight ship and are among the best run programs I've worked with. Believe me, no one is getting rich over there.
You throw around arbitrary percentages tagged by you as "overhead" with no explanation or detail as to your beef. Of course they are going to have overhead and staffing costs! How do you think they keep the lights on, grounds kept, shelves stocked, and water running? Who do you think manages the house, cleans it, maintains it, or supports the families going through one of the most horrendous crisis imaginable (a critically ill or injured child)? Did you know that it cost more than $65 per night per family but they only ask for $20/night...and if a family cannot pay, they are not required to do so? Did you know they also run a nationally-recognized summer camp for kids with physical, mental and emotional challenges? Do you think those camps staff or run themselves? And did you know that part of their charter requires them to provide support to other children's charities in the form of grants and scholarships?
While they do receive generous support from local McDonald's owner/operators (roughly 17% of the chapter's funding), they are a completely separate organization that must rely on the majority of its funding from the communities they serve. This is an organization that my family and I are proud to have donated to in the past and we will continue to do so in the future.
Shana McDonald
(No relation, obviously...)
Shana, Im not taking away from the mission here I think its a good thing. Im asking if the Sac Region is so good , why does it not publish its % actually going to charity like the SF chapter does? Show me the #s.... The SF chapter 18.8% is comprised of
1, Housing shelter
2. Health, General and Reahabilitative
3. Human Services, Multipurpose and Others..
Make A Wish is only 16.4%..total
Sac Childrens home is 13.4% total
Here is where I get my reference information from. I found it a few years ago and its accurate. And missing from the document is The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Sacramento...hmmm...other Ronald McDonald orgs are there....
http://www.cfcsacramento.org/donorguide1.html
Auburnite - Ask them. Their website is www.rmhcnc.org. You can find a direct email link to their executive director or other staff, or their phone number is listed on the site. If you don't like what you hear, don't give. But you may well find them -- as I have -- to be an exceptional organization.
My beef with your posting is this: Simply because a group may or may not have some specific figure posted on a website or included in an article (that was not written by them so you don't know if the info was provided but not included) does not give anyone license to make up percentages about their overhead or staffing costs in order to insinuate that they are not worthy of support. And even if a percentage was included or seems high, you have to look at what those costs specifically entail. Make-a-Wish, for example, is also a well run organization but they do not operate a 24/7 shelter facility for 20 families and, therefore, does not require the staffing level that RMHCNC must have to run their programs. So it's not an apples to apples comparison. Even comparing to other chapters is not entirely accurate because each is an independent organization and they all run different programs within their regions -- for example, the majority do not operate camping programs like our local chapter does. So including statements like: "...and would expect Sacramento to be well over 20% possibly 30%..thats a lot of money for overhead and not going to charity..." without doing at least a little due diligence is disparaging of a fine organization and completely unwarranted.
Auburnfan, I was just asking for information havent seen any yet or on the link you sent, as the others have published, i am not disparaging the mission...I have supported them in the past, and if you read through the donor org guide document you can see some charities are over 30%...
I stand corrected auburnfan, some charities are 25%,
Auburnfan, I don't think Auburnite's request is at all out of line. It's unfortunate, but there are many nonprofits or charities that swallow up donations with admin costs.... leading people to rightly scrutiinze where they donate their dollars...and dollars are more scarce today than in the past.
It's actually to their benefit to publish how much goes to admin and how much goes to mission of benefiting those in need. It's walking the talk so to speak.
I love the Ronald Mcdonalds houses. My cousin family had stayed in a Ronald Mcdonald house off and on for 2 years. My cousin was dianosed w cancer back in 05,and he passed away in 07,at the young age of 20.I think the Ronald Mcdonalds house is a great way of making connections with other family,fun activitys for all,the make a wish foundation and all!!
This is a really nice home.If I would to have won this home,I wouldn't take the cash at all. I would stick w having this home,and using it for a good cause of something.What if the weather gets too bad in Auburn,and homeless is sleeping on the streets. I would happen to pick up a few select homelesses (of course I will do a background check first) and give them a place to stay til the weather comes. Or,I would take in some disabled adults who needs a place to stay,and needs help on a daily basis. I wouldn't mind,since my sister and mom both worked with special education kids.Disabled is my thing.I love them. I love the eldery aswell.
I just hope that whoever wins this home has fun with the home.
Wow i cant believe how lame some people are (Auburnite) if you dont like it, dont do it! why do you even post any of the stuff you said, it is the peoples choice to buy a ticket or not, so we dont really need your downer comments on something that could help people even if they only get 75% dont buy a ticket it leaves more for the rest of us that BELIEVE
It'll be interesting to see how many tickets are sold. Cristiansmomma, that house is beautiful and I could live in the kitchen alone! But the property taxes alone are over $20,000 a year, and the prize winner who accepts the house must pay other costs to collect, as well. I actually can't imagine someone accepting the house, as it would take a lot of money to own it. One could take the money and buy a home now at a bargain price, and have a good bit of security as well.