Working together to make the best better for years to come!

Kids Helping Kids

Oklahoma State 4-H Office205 4-H Youth Development BuildingStillwater, OK 74078P: 405-744-5390 F: 405-744-6522http://oklahoma4h.okstate.edu/suzanne.simpson@okstate.edu

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oklahoma City1301 N.E. 14th StreetOklahoma City, OK 73117-2018P: 405-424-6873 http://rmhcokc.org/

Oklahoma State University, U.S. Department of Agriculture, state and local governments cooperat-ing. Oklahoma State University, in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures.

What else can we do to help?

• Keep the tabs from your beverage cans.Pull-tabs contain a higher quality of aluminum than cans alone and are more clean and conve-nient to store. Please collect them and bring them to your County Extension Office!

• Collect common household items.Keeping the House and Family Room stocked with basic necessities requires a lot of donated food items and supplies. Check out the House’s wish list at http://rmhcokc.org/help/wishlist.

• Bring your club to the House to cook a meal for the residents.

Families who have been in the hospital or at a doctor’s appointment all day look forward to the comfort of an evening meal. You may bring prepared food or fix dinner in the House’s well-equipped kitchen.

Discover more options to help by contacting your County Extension Office, the State 4-H Office or Ronald McDon-ald House Charities of Oklahoma City today!

On Aug. 22, 2011, Charles and Beth Mc-Dowell received the worst news parents could ever hear; their 16-month-old daughter Mia had a cancer-ous mass in

her abdomen. Mia’s pediatrician jumped into action, and within a week filled with tests, procedures, surgery and many tears, the McDowell family had a diagnosis: Stage IV High Risk Neuroblastoma. To complicate the tragedy, Beth gave birth to Mia’s younger brother Max just three weeks after Mia’s diagnosis.

“Traveling back and forth from the hospital made it hard to take care of a newborn,” Beth said. “Ronald Mc-Donald House opened their doors to our family and put our hearts and minds at ease during this critical time.”

Mia was tough and courageous through chemothera-py, and thankfully the entire tumor had “just peeled away” within four months. Unfortunately, the battle was not yet over. Every last cancerous cell needed to be eliminated from Mia’s body, so she began a round of high-dose che-motherapy and received a stem cell transplant. After 12 cycles of radiation, Mia started her third and final phase of treatment in June 2012. To date, Mia has spent a total of 101 days in The Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City.

“If the drugs do their job, Mia’s body will be free of every cancer cell, never to relapse,” Beth said. “From the night Mia was diagnosed to the end of her 14 months of treatment, Ronald McDonald House provided a way for our family to be together during the impossible. We have been blessed by their services, kindness and generosity.”

To learn about other families helped by the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oklahoma City, check out www.youtube.com/RMHCOklahomaCity

Where do you go when the worst happens?

If your family ever faced a medical crisis, how would you cope?

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Total number of families per county in 2011- 2012

Total nights at the House in 2011-2012

Thus far, RMHC-OKC has housed more than 1,500 families in 2011-2012 alone from all over Oklahoma, 16 other states and even Europe and South America!

What is Kids Helping Kids?

Why should I participate?

How do I get involved ?

Kids Helping Kids is a service project/fund raiser for Oklahoma 4-H and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oklahoma City, a non-profit organization that provides a “home away from home” for families with seriously ill or injured children who are receiving medical treatment in the Oklahoma City area.

In the campaign, 4-H members ask for monetary donations for RMHC-OKC. For every dollar given, donors receive a coupon to our invaluable partners, the participating McDonald’s restaurants in Oklahoma. Of the funds raised, one third remains in each county’s 4-H program, half goes to the Ronald McDonald House, and one sixth is given to the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation. In the 25 years since the campaign began, Oklahoma 4-H’ers have raised more than $800,000 to help their local clubs and families facing crises larger than most of us could ever imagine.

• Kids Helping Kids isn’t just another fund raiser for a youth organization.

It raises money and enhances visibility for local 4-H clubs, but it also supplies invaluable funds to the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Oklahoma City. By providing lodging, meals and laundry facil-ities, the House helps relieve the financial burdens and stress for families during difficult times.

• RMHC-OKC needs our help more than ever.Because the House has to turn away hundreds of families each year, the charity is finalizing plans to build a new facility in Oklahoma City. It will connect to The Children’s Hospital, so families will be just 2 minutes and 15 seconds away from their loved ones.

• This year’s prizes will be better than ever!The state’s top fund raisers will receive amazing priz-es, like a 16 megapixel camera, a Kindle Fire, or even an iPad 3! There will even be a drawing to win an Xbox 360 Kinect for all kids who collect at least $50!

Does the Ronald McDonald House actually help people in my neck of the woods?

Kids Helping Kids is the longest running fund raiser in Oklahoma 4-H history. For 25 years, 4-H’ers have been asking friends, neigh-bors, local businesses and caring strangers for help with this amazing cause, and the State 4-H Office would like the charity to grow stron-ger over the next 25 years. This year, we are trying to recruit even more 4-H members, clubs and counties to help with this incredible project.

The campaign will begin Jan. 1, 2013 and run through March 8.

All of the forms for participation have been sent to each county’s

Extension Office. You can also find additional information, cam-paign materials, pertinent videos

and helpful hints on the Oklahoma 4-H website at http://oklahoma4h.okstate.edu/. To learn even more,

contact Suzanne Simpson, the campaign coordinator, in the State 4-H Office.

“It would not have been possible to stay at the hospital up to 14 hours a day without a place like the Ronald McDonald House. A place where we

always felt welcomed and supported. A place where people in very similar situations lean on

each other. A place where people really did care about our day.”

-BeckyDurant, Oklahoma

*Because of the way data was collected for the Ronald McDonald House Family Room in 2011, the number of nights stayed is underestimated by more than 1,000 nights. This mathematical error was corrected for 2012.