By Sonja Carlson Church News staff writer
The Church recently donated furniture manufactured by Deseret Manufacturing for 42 rooms in the new expansion of the Ronald McDonald House in Salt Lake City.
“We are absolutely grateful and thrilled that LDS Church Humanitarian Services donated all of the new, handmade bedroom furniture for our newly expanded Ronald McDonald House,” said Carrie Romano, the executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Intermountain area on March 31.
Mrs. Romano said the donation included two queen pillow top beds with bed frames and headboards for each room, along with dressers and night stands.
“With this gift we were able to furnish the rooms, which have hardwood floors, in a really lovely and welcoming way; we otherwise may not have been able to do so,” Mrs. Romano said.
In addition to the donated furniture, about 30 service missionaries from the Bishop’s Central Storehouse delivered and installed the furniture to the Ronald McDonald House on Feb. 26.
Elder Larry Palmer, director of service missionaries at the Bishop’s Central Storehouse and member of the Salt Lake Jordan 1st Ward in the Salt Lake Jordan Stake, said the service missionaries understand that when they serve others, they’re also giving service to their Lord, Jesus Christ. He said that hauling in and unloading their trucks full of donations and being able to be part of it was “really something.”
Mrs. Romano said “it was quite a sight to see this amazing generosity coming through with a lot of hard work on behalf of these young men.”
“This remarkable gift of bedroom furniture will give families a home away from home who have a seriously ill or injured child who otherwise may be sleeping in their car or sleeping in waiting rooms at the hospitals, so it quite literally gives them a soft landing spot,” she said. “When they’re away from their homes, their neighbors, their churches, their schools, their support systems, it allows us to support mom and dad and the whole family so that they can give the love and care to their seriously ill or injured child.”
The Ronald McDonald House was unable to serve about 700 families last year, Mrs. Romano said, so the new expansion will help the growing need for accommodations.
The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities is to provide a “home-away-from-home” for families of hospitalized children. The work the Church did to help the charity helps the service missionaries further their resolve to serve.
“That’s two of the things that is most sensitive to our missionaries — that we know through Jesus Christ — and that’s family and children,” Elder Palmer said. “And they go to see firsthand all the efforts that go to keep that family together and functioning as a family when there’s a crisis in their life.”
The Ronald McDonald House is located on 935 East South Temple in Salt Lake City.
scarlson@deseretnews.com
