A house will rise soon from a foundation of love generated by hundreds of volunteers-from medical professionals to computer experts, from homemakers to bankers, from junior high school students to senior citizens.
Before ground is broken late next spring, thousands of hours of labor will give life to a 15-bedroom, $3-million Ronald McDonald House at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. When completed it will serve families whose children are being cared for not only at Loyola but also at hospitals throughout the west suburban region.
Susan Sullivan of Oak Brook, coordinator of the project, is said by many of her volunteer team members to be “the wind beneath their wings.” Her dedication is remarkable and inspirational, said Dr. Craig Anderson of Burr Ridge, chief of pediatrics at Loyola University Medical Center. It was Anderson who first invited Sullivan, the wife of a Loyola pediatric neurologist, Dr. Tom Sullivan, to spearhead this project in the spring of 1992.
“I asked for a week to think it over, because I was uncertain that I could do the best possible job, and I didn’t want to let anyone down,” Sullivan said. “But I realized that it was a distinct honor to be part of something that would serve so many in such a special way, and so I said yes.”
Sullivan said she had been seriously ill and bedridden for over a year when her now-grown children were small. “There was so much help and support from friends and family as we passed through our personal crisis,” she said. “My memories of that difficult time had a bearing on my decision to accept Dr. Anderson’s request. It’s my turn now.”
Since making that decision, Sullivan said it has become a mission, a full-time commitment. “I am blessed to have hundreds of wonderful people working side by side with me to bring this house to the families who so desperately need it,” she said.
A Ronald McDonal House is a home away from home for families of children undergoing treatment for serious illnesses at area hospitals. The new Ronald McDonald House will be located on the grounds of Hines VA Hospital in Maywood.
“Susan is a good leader,” said Anderson. “She is organized and deeply committed, clearly a role model for all of us who work with her.”
What began as a group of fewer than 30 on that first call for volunteers 18 months ago, according to Sullivan, has snowballed into nearly 600 men, women and children, offering their time and talents. Sullivan, who works closely with an all-volunteer board of directors at The Caring Place at Loyola Inc., a non-profit group formed to facilitate the development of the Ronald McDonald House, said the board members’ names read like a who’s who in the corporate world.
Steve Snyder of Oswego co-chairs the architect committee on the Loyola Ronald McDonald House board of directors. “I have a real passion about this project. It’s a primary concern of mine,” he said. “My son died at Loyola in 1984 of congenital heart disease, and I spent 22 days on the couch there.”
Snyder said his memory of those days has given him a true vision of what a Ronald McDonald House is all about. “I have visited a number of other houses throughout the country, and once you’re in one of them, you are hooked.
“I don’t care if it’s brick or if it’s Tudor, just as long as we have a place of comfort so that other parents don’t have to sleep on couches or share an impersonal waiting room with dozens of strangers when they have a critically ill child,” said Synder, the vice president of Donnelly Marketing, a national marketing firm in Oakbrook Terrace.
“All of our board members give endless hours of their time, and I’m totally dependent on their expertise and grateful for their dedication,” Sullivan said.
“But I can’t overlook the unsung heroes that I count on for the everyday tasks necessary to bring this project to reality,” she noted. “Like Steve, many of our volunteers have come through difficult times themselves, making their contribution even more meaningful.”
Lee Nicosia of Oak Brook, chairwoman of volunteers, is another example: “Our third child, Katie, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at the age of 20 months, and she spent lots of time at Loyola. When she needed a bone marrow transplant, we traveled to a hospital in New York. Though we were fortunate enough to be able to afford a hotel room nearby, many families couldn’t. But we heard so many of them say, `Thank God for the Ronald McDonald House.’ “
Katie Nicosia did not survive, but her mother remembers the many families who were comforted by the proximity of a Ronald McDonald House when they were in crisis. So she is now motivated to coordinate the hundreds of volunteers who share her goal.
“Our volunteers are cut from the same cloth,” said Nicosia. “They are totally dedicated. These are people who love children and they respond to any call for help, whether it’s doing office work, writing notes of appreciation to donors or working on fundraising projects. I know I can count on them.”
As president of the board of directors, Sullivan serves as the connecting link between the more than two dozen members of the board and the hundreds of volunteers who carry out the plans initiated at the board’s monthly meetings.
“We are so busy and excited about the wonderful events that will raise the $1.5 million needed before we can break ground,” said Sullivan. (A seed grant of $25,000 from Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities, along with funds generated by McDonald’s restaurant owners and operators throughout this region, plus corporate and personal donations, will account for the remaining $1.5 million needed to complete the house.) “Nordstrom in Oak Brook is underwriting a benefit on Nov. 20 for our Ronald McDonald House, and we are having a gala in March of ’94 at the Field Museum in Chicago.”
“It’s truly a family effort,” Sullivan said of the volunteers who have rallied to the call for help. “In fact, we have a unique group of teens known as the House Helpers, and they are the first group of its kind to lend support to the development of a Ronald McDonald House.”
Barbara Bucciferro of Oak Brook coordinates the activities of the House Helpers and their junior counterparts, McPals. Along with her husband Guy, Bucciferro is owner-operator of a McDonald’s restaurant in Oak Brook and the mother of three.
“I’m at my best when it comes to working with kids,” she said. “And these young people are a delight. When they meet to discuss plans for fundraising activities, I’m there for guidance and support, but they generate all the ideas.”
According to Bucciferro, the teen group has already raised more than $11,000 and recently received recognition at an International Ronald McDonald House Conference. “Our group received the Best Bets Award for volunteerism, which included a check for $1,000 toward the Ronald McDonald House at Loyola,” she said proudly. “They’ve had car washes, sold wrapping paper, planned parties. They sell T-shirts and mugs. These kids are willing and capable of doing so much. It’s such a pleasure to be part of a group that is doing something good. So many teens get a bad rap and here are some kids doing something to change that image.”
Westchester’s St. Joseph High School sophomore Jason Lodico obviously doesn’t remember the time he spent as a 2-pound, 3-ounce preemie in Loyola’s neonatal unit, but he’s been told that Dr. Anderson brought him through those early months of life. So when his mother, Darlene, who works in administration at Loyola, brought home a flyer about a call for volunteers for a Ronald McDonald House, “I decided to get involved. It was my way of saying thank you to Dr. Anderson,” Lodico explained.
Lodico calculated he has spent more than 100 hours as a House Helper, making signs and posters, selling fundraising items, preparing a members’ list on the computer and selling tickets for the children’s indoor playground Leaps and Bounds. A portion of the cost of those tickets for use at the Leaps and Bounds in Westmont, Naperville, Oak Brook and Glendale Heights benefits the Ronald McDonald House project.
“I’ve met a lot of kids from different schools, and we each bring different viewpoints and a wide variety of ideas to the group,” he said. “This is the first volunteer job I’ve ever had, and I can’t believe how much I enjoy it!”
Kathi Parisi of La Grange, who lends a helping hand as the liaison between Loyola and the House Helpers, is the child life coordinator at the Medical Center in Maywood. “Since we don’t have the house yet, we encourage the teens to be involved with our pediatric ward,” she said. “Most of them have never seen kids with cancer, heart problems, kidney disease. So by occasional visits to pediatrics, they get an idea of what their efforts are all about. The House Helpers will be sharing the Christmas spirit with our sick children here at Loyola, Christmas caroling and gift giving. It’s a chance for them to see another side of life.”
A number of Chicago-area celebrities have expressed a willingness to be supportive of the teen group. Among them are former Chicago Bear Gary Fencik, White Sox legend Minnie Minoso, and WLS-TV reporter Dick Johnson of Hinsdale.
“This is a great effort and very much needed by the Loyola community that serves all of Chicagoland,” Johnson said.
“As local celebrities, we are asked to do a lot of things, and not all of them make as much sense as this does,” he said of his work with the House Helpers. “As a father of three, it seems right to do something that is children-oriented. I admire their spirit, and I’m at their call.”
Along with the other local personalities who have pledged their support of the teen group, Johnson said they plan to make visits to Loyola’s pediatric ward with the House Helpers, cheering up the children who are gravely ill. When the house is open, many of these children will have their parents close by and won’t feel the loneliness they frequently experience now, Johnson said.
“Everyone I have met in this endeavor has enriched my life,” said Sullivan. “I like to think of this project as a huge tapestry with all the colors and patterns of people’s efforts woven together to make something of beauty.
“Our house will be majestic because it is coming together with dedication and love, families caring for families. We don’t even know who they will be, but it doesn’t matter. When that door opens for the first time, our hearts will be full.”
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The Caring Place at Loyola encourages volunteers to call 708-327-9122.
