Tennessee’s First

1705 West Clinch Avenue l Knoxville, Tennessee 37916

knoxrmhc.org

Fall l 2011

Splish-Splash!!!

What better way to kick off your summer than fun in the sun at Dollywood’s Splash Country?! Once again this year our friends at Dollywood dedicated a day to the Ronald McDonald House. On May 28 we held our annual Float-A-Thon where participants could beat the heat by floating along on their inner tubes at Splash Country. Not only did we have volunteers from the Ron-ald McDonald House, we also had 15 volunteers from Scripps Network to assure a successful event. We raised $30,150 in that one day – including a wonder-ful donation of $5,000 from our friends at Splash Country. Many, many thanks to the generous folks at Dollywood for support-ing us year after year!

Fun in the sun

Oak Ridge Golfers Out-Do Themselves Again!!!

We’re not sure how they do it, but the enthusiastic support-ers of the KFI Golf Tournament raise incredible money for the Ronald House year in and year out. For the past several years, we’ve been thrilled that they raise more money than the year before and this year set a new

Another triumph

record - $45,000!!!!! This fun event was held on Au-gust 5 and 6th at the Oak Ridge Country Club. The 5th was a fes-tive “clambake” and the golfers re-turned early on the morning of the 6th to tee off in support of RMHC. The weather gods must also love the Ronald House because the predicted rainfall didn’t begin un-til the last volunteer was leaving the country club after the golfing was completed! We have no doubt that soggy weather wouldn’t have deterred these golfing fiends, but a dry day was welcomed by all. The sold-out event continued on that Saturday evening with din-ner, both live and silent auctions, and dancing to the tunes of “Boys Night Out” at the Doubletree in Oak Ridge. A signature event which be-gan in 1985, this golf tournament is the brain child of Ronald Board member Keys Fillauer. Thanks to the many friends and sponsors that Keys has involved in this tour-

The bidding begins

nament, the event surpasses itself each year. On September 22 Keys and other board members of KFI came to present us with their check for $45,000 and let us say “thank you” to them by treating them to a special reception at the House. The only thing bigger than the check the KFI presented to us is the size of the hearts of the men and women behind this event. Thank you for the love you bring to our House!!

From the Hearts of Children… If you hear someone complain about what the future looks like and how the kids today are no good ------- just tell them about Pigeon Forge Primary School!! Seven 4th grade classes raised money during the month of April to be presented to the Ron-ald House. McDonald’s owner/operator Justin Israel struck up a friendly competition between the classes. He offered to give the class who raised the most money a Happy Meal Party. Mr. Israel was on hand for the May 19th presentation and made good on his promise. In addi-

tion to that he gave a “runners up” coupon for a burger and fries to the remaining classes. The combined classes raised a whopping $442 for the Ronald Mc-Donald House and Ronald McDon-ald himself was present to receive the check!! In addition to giving the students McDonald’s meals and/or coupons, Mr. Israel donated $200 to the teacher of the winning class, Ms. King, to be used in her classroom. Much to the delight and surprise of RMHC Executive Director, Sue Bev-erly, Ms. King donated her $200 gift from Mr. Israel back to the Ronald House. What a wonderful example

she set for her students! How exciting it was to bring back to our House $642 and to know that the hearts of the children at Pigeon Forge Primary School are definitely in the right place!

Holiday Cards Our holiday cards will be avail-able in mid-November for only $10 (for a package of 20). This year’s card is a re-issue of one done by Allie Coker, whose story appears on page 3. You’ll want to stock up!!!

Upcoming Events

Golfing with Ronald! We all know that golfers love to play golf, but it seems they especially love to play golf when it supports a cause near and dear to them – the Ronald McDonald House! The friendly folks at Egwani Farms welcomed us once again this year for an-other successful golf tourna-ment. The tourney, held on June 10, was so popular that we had both morning and afternoon tee-times to accommodate the numbers – 130 golfers!!! Ronald McDonald himself was there to spread his cheer and give some golf pointers! The Golf Tournament remains

one of our largest fundraisers and raised over $51,000 for the House this year. It takes many dedicated volunteers and a hard-working golf tournament committee to account for this success. Special thanks go to Oliver’s for donating lunch and to the crew at Texas Roadhouse for providing another yummy din-ner for our golfers. We’re always grateful to our hardworking Board for their support of this major event. They participate in many different ways – some are golfing, some are greeting, some are wait-ing tables and some prepare the delicious desserts. The golfers had a fun day, a good

round of golf, a delicious meal and in addition – they each received a custom made White Ice putter with the RMHC logo. No wonder there were smiles all around. Now let’s see if those new putters can shave some strokes off those scores???!

It’s another busy season for us – see what’s coming and mark your calendars now: Friday, October 28 – Freaky Friday Nite in Far-ragut - Held at Mayor Bob Leonard Park on Watt Road this Halloween-inspired event provides “trick or treating” for youngsters, games, treats and food for all and takes up collections of various items our House needs, such as cleaning supplies, trash bags, gro-cery cards, postage stamps, etc. Week of November 14 – 18 - Just Desserts Auction - Tune into Jennifer’s Midday show on B97.5 from 10:00 – 3:00 every day that week and bid on a dessert!! Lo-cal businesses will donate their favorite desserts to be auctioned off to benefit the House! Saturday, November 19 –5th Annual Turkey Tail-gate - The wonderful gals at Alpha Delta Pi Sorority have their annual tailgate party on FIJI Island three hours before kickoff of the UT vs.Vanderbilt game. Come for food, entertainment, corn-hole tournament and silent auction. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased on ar-rival. November 20, 2011 – McHappy Day - Between November 10 and 20 local McDonald’s Restaurants will be selling “hands” for $1 to benefit the House. On No-vember 20th a percentage of sales from special meal items will also benefit the House. Take a break from cooking and support your local Ronald House! Visit us at www.knoxrmhc.org for details and other fun events!

Car Lovers Support the House!! The Smoky Mountain Classic Chevy Club held their annual car show onSaturday, May 21 at the Inn at Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. A fundraiser for the Ronald House, this car show displayed 210 cars from all over the south-east and points beyond! In ad-dition to the classic cars, 20 different vendors showcasing car-related items added to the day’s festivities!

Hard at work

Hooray for Novo Nordisk!! The unseasonably warm tempera-tures on May 21st didn’t keep away the enthusiastic employees of Novo Nordisk. Under the leadership of Ericka Murchie twenty volunteers braved the heat to beautify our yard and spent nearly $1,300 on mulch, shrubs and flowers to help makethe outside of our House as invit-ing as the inside. In addition to the plantings and supplies, the labor in the sun, the folks at Novo Nordisk also provided lunch for our fami-lies. Thank you to Novo Nordisk for working so hard to make our House seem even more like a home for ourfamilies!

Beat theWinter Blues

February 3, 2012 is the date for our “Beat the Winter Blues” wine & cheese recep-tion at Stanley’s Greenhouse from 5:30-7:30pm. What better way to brighten a dreary winter’s eve than to be surrounded with good friends and a bounty of blooms!! This event has been wildly popular with attend-ees in the past & tickets are sure to go quickly. So, “be there or be square”!!!

Ready to win

Some classic oldies

Allie’s fifth birthday

Focus on a family: Allie This past summer, July 16th to be exact, RMH Director, Sue Bev-erly, had the extremely happy privilege of attending the wed-ding of Ms. Allie Coker to Mr.Manny Schwimmer. On the sur-face, it appeared to be like any other joyous wedding celebra-tion…a beautiful bride; a hand-some groom… throngs of fam-ily and friends gathered …. and a future full of promise. But as the reception toasts were being made and the bride’s turn came, she shared the fact that the wedding date was sig-nificant not only as the day shemarried her own “Prince Charm-ing” but the day was also the 10‐year anniversary of her be-ing cancer free. Needless to say, many a “happy” tear was shed!! Turning back the clock to 1993, the Coker family was living in Crossville, TN when their lives were turned upside down with the news that their five year old daughter, Alexandra (Allie) had leukemia. Treatment was to be-gin immediately at Children’s Hospital in Knoxville and for the next nine months, Allie and herparents, Mike & Syndi, stayed at our Ronald House when hospi-talization was required. It didn’t take long for the RMH staff to fall completely in love with littleAllie’s winning smile and exu-berant personality. Even during her treatment regimen, there were some happy memories, like celebrating her 5th birthday. At that time she was enamored with the movie “101 Dalma-tions” …. So that became the theme for her party. The staff stayed busy creating dalmation‐style decorations which meant spending hours drawing black spots on white streamers and balloons that were used to cre-ate a festive atmosphere in our dining room. One kind‐hearted volunteer even created a dalma-tion birthday cake just for her…. But upon surprising her with it, Allie surprised us right back by not wanting to cut the cake, (fearing it would “hurt” the dog) so all the revelers in attendance got to swipe a finger through the icing instead!

Wanting to be closer to her trusted physicians for treatment & greater peace of mind, the Cokers decided to move to Knoxville and contin-ued to come by our RMH for day use. What a joyous day it was as the family invited friends & extended family to her “coming off” party which signaled her “coming off her chemo” treatments. Periodic hospital visits were then in order to assure that she continued to be in remission. Life seemed to get back to normal for the family as Allie returned to school…. Dad re-turned to work… and Mom began to volunteer at her school. Fast forward five years…. Allie was a busy pre‐teen enjoying stel-lar grades in school, friends, music, writing and such with her illness a distant memory… that is until the unthinkable happened and a rou-tine check‐up indicated the cancer had returned. Once again, this beautiful young lady faced the grueling treatments with grace, optimism, and faith and was rewarded with a second remis-sion. In this case the “second time was the charm” and she finished high school, and enrolled in David-son College with the goal of earn-ing a degree in English which she accomplished in 2010. Along the way, she looked for opportunities to help others such as volunteering at the “Hole in the Wall Gang” camp for young cancer patients, founded by the late actor Paul Newman… and chairing the “Project Life” initia-

tive during her college years where she raised funds for bone marrow “typing drives”. She is a young lady who knows how to make every moment of her life count and her drive to excel…. to create… and to nurture those in need inspires all who know her. And today, she happily looks for-ward to the newest chapter in her life… being a loving wife to the love of her life.

Jane Martin - She Helps make our House a Home!!!

The old saying is “if you need something done, ask a busy person to do it”! That certainly holds true for Board member, Jane Martin. Jane has served numerous terms on the Ronald Board (too many to count!) and has been an active member of almost every committee at the House at one time or another. She has also served us as President of the Board in past years, so it is clear the Ronald House is near and dear to her heart. Jane’s friendly smile and gracious spirit endear her to everyone she

meets. She enthusiastically and willingly tackles whatever proj-ect she takes on, which explains why she is such an asset to our House. Most recently, Jane has been an integral part of the House Committee. One of the nicest surprises for our families is to see how beautifully furnished and “homey” our House is. That’s where Jane and her skills shine!! Our House Committee faithfully inspects our rooms, keeps things updated, checks for worn linens, wields a paint brush, changes wallpaper, looks for new art work, rearranges furniture ---- whatever it takes to help our families feel at home. There is no feel of a “motel room” at our House – each room has a per-sonal touch, uniquely decorated with beautiful colors, nice linens and interesting knick-knacks. Jane can be found any day of the week at the House, checking out the rooms to see what might be needed and then heading out to see what she can find to add to the décor. Her warm heart and loving spirit seem to leave an im-print on each of the rooms she helps decorate! Jane and husband, Larry, who serves as Deputy to the Mayor of Knoxville, are enthusiastic sup-porters of “all things Knoxville”. Whether it’s the symphony, Vol sports (all types!), concerts, the-ater, benefit fund-raisers – the Martins will be there! In addition to the Ronald House, Jane keeps busy with many other activities. She is a graduate of the Leader-ship Knoxville program, active with the youth at Church Street United Methodist Church, has served as a board member with Florence Crittenton Agency in the past and is an avid supporter of the Cancer Support Commu-nity of East Tennessee. In ad-dition, she has just started the UT Chancellor’s Associates Pro-gram. In the midst of all this, she has raised two daughters, now grown. As you can see, Jane Martin is a busy woman. Fortunately for the Ronald House, she places us high on her list of priorities and is instrumental in making our House a Home for our families!!

The newlyweds

Our lovely Jane

Fun Holiday Gift-Giving Ideas !!!!!!

Non-ProfitOrganization

U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 309Knoxville, TN

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Knoxville, TN, Inc.1705 W. Clinch AvenueKnoxville, TN 37916865.637.7475www.knoxrmhc.orgReturn Service Requested

2011 Board of Directors: Jeff AllenLaura BarnesMark BroddJohn Buckingham Joe Burger Janell CecilEric CochranBill EvansLynne Fain Keys FillauerMary Ann GibsonKeith Goodwin Terri Hale

Myra HaynesJulie HowardJoanne HuddlestonJohn HunterJane MartinCindy MayfieldMarianne NicholsDana O’KelleyButch PeccoloEd PershingJohn SheridanWilliam Terry, M.D.

Kindnesses of the Heart

Jo Cochran, Emeritus

We are continually astound-ed and humbled by the numbers of businesses and individuals who take their time and money to make a difference for our fami-lies. Here are some of the special gifts that have come our way:

Thanks to the K-town Sam’s Camping Club for supporting our House again this year. Their members came to the House for a reception on September 29 and presented us with a check for $1,744. We are so appreciative of these folks who support us year after year.

We salute the graduating class at McGhee Tyson Air Base who took up a collection and presented $400 to our House during their awards ceremony in May 2011. Now that’s what we call heroes!!

Hooray to the 20-plus vol-unteers from Scripps who came

to our House on September 9 for a work day. They helped with so many things – yard work, painting, household chores – and lunch for our families!!

We deeply appreciate Ms. Louise Moore who nominated our House for a $1,000 community grant from ALCOA. We can always put extra money to good use!!

Many thanks to the members of the River Operations at TVA for col-lecting items from our wish list to donate. It takes so many different things to keep our House running and we always welcome donations from our wish list!

We are grateful for the dedica-tion and dependability of the mem-bers of KAMA who come one day each month to prepare lunch and dinner for our families. It is such a boost to the spirits of our families to have a “home-cooked meal” after a long and difficult day

How Can I Help??? Have you ever wondered how you might be able to help? After all, you’re just one person – what can you do? You’d be surprised how much difference your help could make. Here are some ideas of what you could do: * Drop money in a McDonald’s canister * Bring groceries to the House * Bake cookies for our families * Help decorate our House for holidays * Cook a meal for the families (a great family venture) * Volunteer to work in the yard at the House (weeds always thrive!) *Join forces with co-workers to donate some hours helping with our chores * Volunteer your “expertise” to help us – are you a plumber, a painter, a mechanic, a landscaper, an electrician, etc.???? * Does your company provide a product or service that could be donated to our House?

* Instead of buying a gift for a family member, make a donation to our House – we’ll send them a card describing your gift * Collect aluminum cans for recycling * Make a monetary donation to our House * Collect household goods for the House (paper towels, light bulbs, cleansers, etc.) * Visit our “wish list” on knoxrmhc. org to see what we need that you could provide These are just some ideas. We welcome you to come alone, with your family, gather a Kiwanis group or church group, spend a block of time with co-workers or friends and come help the House that Love Built! It takes many hands to keep us going and we’d love to have you on board!! Visit knoxrmhc.org or call 637-7475 to look for ways you can help!!!

With the holiday season just around the corner, we are hap-py to be able to tell you about some great gift items you could purchase for family and friends which will also benefit our House!!

Once again this year Dillard’s is offering a gorgeous South-ern Living Christmas Cook-book for only $10!!!! These books are available at your lo-

cal Dillard’s stores now. They sold out quickly last year! For the little Vol fan on your list we know you’ll want to buy “Lil’ Smokey – Born a Volunteer”. This book tells the story of Lil Smokey and how he became the UT mascot. The book sells for $11.95 at local bookstores or you can visit our website for details. A portion of the sales price goes to our House!

Up until December 2, 2011 you can purchase a Sasha Scentsy Buddy bear for $30 and Jessica Bo-lin, the Scentsy Consultant behind this plan, will donate 100% of the proceeds to our House. Sasha is a snuggly stuffed teddy bear you can purchase to give to your own child. If you prefer, you can purchase a Sa-sha to benefit the House and Jessica will put a gift tag on the bear and they will be delivered to a local hos-pital by Jessica’s family on Christ-

mas Eve to cheer up the young patients. Details are available at giftswithjessica@gmail.com.

As always, you can make a do-nation in any amount to the Ron-ald House in memory or in honor of friends and loved ones. We will send a card to your honoree informing them of your gift. For details about making this gift or any of the above items, call the House at 637-7475 or visit us at www.knoxrmhc.org