Date: Friday 21^st October 2010

Location: The Shelbourne Hotel

Guests: 350

Main Sponsors:

McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland,

Kerry Foods, H & K International, Delta Packaging, Diageo

The RMHC 10^th Anniversary Ball was held in the Shelbourne Hotel on Friday 21^st October in aid of The Ronald McDonald House, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin.

The guests were presented by a glass of Bubbly upon arrival. The atmosphere was lively from the get go. Manila Strings entertained our guests during the reception.

Before dinner began our MC for the evening, John McHale, introduced our Guest Speaker of the evening, the beautiful and courageous 15 year old Nicole McCabe. Nicole and her family had stayed in the Ronald McDonald House for over 8 months this year while Nicole was being treated for Lymphoblastic Lymphoma Cancer. Nicole’s very honest and open description of that experience had a very emotional impact on all our guests and brought home to them why they were supporting The Ball and The Ronald McDonald House.

Marian Carroll, CEO (Volunteer) welcomed and thanked all those in attendance. She thanked all of the many supporters and sponsors who helped make the night such a great success and she thanked those who had supported the Charity and the Ball for the last 10 years. McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland were the main Sponsors of the evening and Marian was delighted to welcome the very special guests from McDonald’s in the US and The UK. She welcomed Don Thompson (McDonald’s President and Chief Operating Officer) Doug Goare (McDonald’s President, Europe) and Jill McDonald (CEO, McDonald’s UK & President Northern Division) in particular and thanked them and their colleagues for making the effort to join RMHC for their 10^th Gala Ball.

The guests were served a delicious 4 course meal during which each table was serenaded by Manila Strings. After dinner the guests were entertained by Fossetts Circus – The lovely Sarah Fossett was unbelievable as she performed from a rope suspended from the Ceiling of The Great Room – a first for The Shelbourne Hotel! The evening concluded with enthusiastic dancing to the sound of the fabulous 5^th Avenue Dance Band who played into the wee small hours.

Marian Carroll, CEO (Volunteer) RMHC Ireland and Liz Nolan, Charity Administrator who together organised the event were extremely pleased with how the evening went. Amazing Raffle Prizes and spectacular Auction Prizes proved too tempting for the assembled guests. Their generosity, coupled with the generosity of all the evening’s sponsors and donors resulted in €90,000 being raised for The Ronald McDonald House which provides a home-away-from-home for families from all over Ireland whose children are seriously ill and are inpatient at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. Another wonderful night for a truly worthy cause. Many thanks to everybody who made it possible.

(Photos by: Canon)

Contact Details:

Marian Carroll, CEO (Volunteer), RMHC Ireland. 0872589903

The Ronald McDonald House Cycle 16^st April 2011 Blessington Lakes

Location: Blessington Lakes

On Saturday 16th April 2011, the annual Ronald McDonald House Cycle took place around the beautiful Blessington Lakes.

The cycle started and finished at the Avon Rí Resort, Blessington Lakes, Co Wicklow. The day started a little cloudy and damp but turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon.

We stopped for lunch at the Lake View Lounge, Ballyknocken. The Sandwiches were kindly donated by Freshways. The drinks & chocolates were donated by Irish Rail & Nestlé. Water was supplied by Coca Cola & Vittel. The Tea & Coffee was kindly sponsored by Geraldine & Frank Ennis. The fruit was supplied by Philip Doyle from our local Fruit & Vegetable shop here on Errigal Road. Many thanks to you all for this wonderful support.

The Cycle was marshalled by our House Staff and Volunteers. Other people were also very kindly on hand to help. Liz Nolan, Sheena Dalton, Jenny Farrell, Josepha Diehl, Mary Gleeson,  Margaret McErlean, Mary Gara, Ed Kearns, Anita Cunningham, Ruth Byrne, Sinéad Egan, Anne Keogh, Lorcán Potts, Don, Christophe, Séamas Rawle, Derek Nugent, Mike Grech, Nicolas D’Arcy & David Carroll. Thank you all, we could not have done it without you!

Every cyclist received a medal upon completion of their route. These medals were very kindly donated by The Carne Group.

After the cycle we all gathered for dinner and the award presentations. The wine for dinner was kindly sponsored by Cassidy Wines & Centra on Errigal Road.

Although not a Race we did recognise the following people:

80K – Ronan Harper

50K – Stephen Oglesby

25K – David Megonnety

Raffle Prizes were very kindly donated by Gleesons of Booterstown Ave, Trish Lavelle & Richard O’Brien, Mary Gara & Ed Kearns, Bullman (Kinsale), Quishes Supervalu (Ballincollig), Avon Rí. All cyclists were entered in the draw but you had to be there to win a prize! Many thanks to all for your great prizes.

Our music after dinner was very kindly organised by Brendan Coyne. Thanks Brendan, great sounds!

After dinner Mary Ormonde very kindly said a few words. Mary & Neville Ormonde spent almost 8 months in The Ronald McDonald House while their daughter Marykate was undergoing treatment in hospital. Mary spoke about their stay in The House. She thanked everybody for cycling and raising money for The House. Thank you Mary, Neville, Marykate and your friend Rachel for joining us.

An event like this does not happen without a lot of work behind the scene. A very sincere thank you to the Cycle Committee for organising the day.

Mairéad Lavelle (House Manager), Geraldine Gleeson, Frank Ennis, Pat Keogh, Michael Reidy, Dominic Punch, Patricia Lavelle, Richard O’Brien & Nicola Rowntree

Many thanks to all our cyclists, our helpers and our supporters. Your generosity will make an enormous difference to so many families who have to stay in The Ronald McDonald House.

Marian Carroll, CEO (Volunteer), RMHC Ireland

We have individual Coin Collection Boxes available. Collect your coins in these small coin boxes and then return the change to us at your convenience. All instructions are on the box. Your small change will help us to look after the families who stay with us here at The Ronald McDonald House.

You can order boxes by sending your name & address to admin@rmhc.ie and we will post out the box.