Ronald McDonald House "Home for Dinner" is an outreach program for the benefit of families that stay at the house while their child or children are undergoing medical treatment at the Alberta Children's Hospital or the neonatal unit at the Foothills Hospital. This is such a stressful time for families and the "Home for Dinner" program provides a sense of normalcy and comfort after a stressful day at the hospital.
This program was the brainchild of Delores James, approximately 25 years ago. At the time, Delores was the Chair of the Outreach program here at St. Peter's and the church fully supported this program. Slowly, more individuals, churches, businesses, and restaurants came on board and soon, dinner was being prepared on a daily basis. The first dinner was served in April of 1999 and we are still going strong 25 years later.
Then the pandemic hit and everything ground to a halt. We could no longer prepare meals. Around December of 2021 the team received notice that the "Home for Dinner" program would be restarting in January of 2022, however, funding from the church was no longer available. An anonymous donor came to our rescue and generously funded the program for the year. In January of 2023 the team of seven "originals" agreed to personally fund the dinners because of the power of this ministry and how much of a difference this program makes to families who are in crisis, not to mention just how good it makes us feel to make such an impact. We are thankful to God for his continued blessing on this ministry.
Current team is seven members and two spares and we are thankful God is renewing this ministry. We are so grateful for the prayer support of our congregation and value the commitment of our current team in this mission to those in need of care and compassion. We will keep you updated on future opportunities as planned growth in the number housed will bring changes in how this future minstry operates.