Always ready to lend a hand with a smile, volunteer Hannah Johnson makes sure that our communal spaces are clean for families and does whatever other tasks we might need help with. Hannah got started as a volunteer after staying at the House with her mother and sister in 2015.

“While at Ronald McDonald House, I don’t think I took the time to appreciate everything that this organization helped us with,” Hannah says. As an interviewer, I tell her she has nothing to pay us back for, since this is what we do, but she insists. Volunteering for Hannah is a way she can pay it forward to other families staying here, to help others on the journey she understands all too well. “Volunteering is something that makes me feel good, to know that I’m making a difference.”

Hannah drives all the way from Poulsbo once a week to help out, doing everything from sweeping to sanitizing our kitchen. Having the extra help doesn’t just keep things looking nice, it actually is vital for kids with compromised immunity so they can heal. Something as simple as a common cold can be very dangerous for a child who is going through certain treatments, so we can never have too many “Helping Hands” volunteers to help make our home away from home safe.

“When Hannah came to us, wanting to volunteer, her schedule was really busy with school and work. We decided she should take some time, let things settle down, and then come back,” says Judy, Manager of Volunteer Services. “When you say something like that to a volunteer, you don’t know if they will come back. But Hannah was different – she came back and said she was ready to do whatever we needed. It’s a real testament to her commitment as a volunteer.”