Saturday afternoon, my youth group went up to the Ronald McDonald House at Geisinger Medical Center
to prepare a meal for the families who were staying there. Unfortunately, because the event was on a Saturday, we only had three youth and four leaders attend.

Soon after arriving, we started preparing dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, salad and cake (already made to save time). As it turned out, it was nice that there were only a few youth with us as it allowed them to be involved with the preparation. If we’d had many more people in the kitchen, there would have been a lot of standing around.

While we waited for the meal to finish cooking, we spent time talking with the families that were staying there. One family we met had a daughter in the hospital and three other children with them at RMH. One of the children, a young girl, happened to be celebrating her eighth birthday on Saturday, so I ran down to the local Weis Markets to purchase candles and matches for one of the cakes. Shortly after I got back, we brought the cake out to her and sang “Happy Birthday” to her; she was pleasantly surprised! Though I’m sure it wasn’t the ideal place to spend a birthday, we did what we could to brighten up her day.

I also had the good fortune to meet the family I learned about the day before. Sure enough, their daughter had been in the hospital for the past five months and they’d been staying at RMH the entire time. They didn’t say where they were from, but the mother did say that their home was about two hours north of the hospital.

Even though preparing the meal was very quick and easy, we received many thanks from the families we met. One young woman told me, “Thanks very much for dinner. Having a freshly made dinner reminds me of home.” Her saying that made me realize that it doesn’t take much to help someone in need and reminded me of Matthew 25:35-40:

‘…35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

If you have a Ronald McDonald House in your area, I highly recommend contacting them about providing meals.  Heck, you probably don’t even to prepare the meal there if you don’t have time; you could make it at home and deliver it along with reheating instructions.  It’s a great way to help others who are in need and have lots of other stuff on their minds.