People interested in volunteering at Ronald McDonald House Central Alberta are invited to an information session Wednesday.
The session will run from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Red Deer Public School Board office, at 4747 53rd St.
On Nov. 7 and 14, the first stage of interviews will begin.
Executive director Larry Mathieson said more volunteering sessions will be held in the future since there’s so much public interest in the house.
“In Red Deer, we haven’t even built the house and we already have a hundred people on the volunteer roster. A good number of those people are actually volunteering for us now,” Mathieson said.
Some volunteers are involved in fundraising projects and some are baking and delivering treats to construction workers at the site.
“We’re doing this orientation for people who are new to us, also for the people who are waiting for us to get the process rolling.”
Work began last year on the 11-suite house, at 3908 Gaetz Ave. near the Red Deer hospital and will open to families with critically ill babies, sick children and high-risk pregnancies on Feb. 27.
Mathieson said volunteers will be needed to work as the front host who checks families into the facility, people to cook dinners for families and volunteers to lead recreational activities.
The house in Red Deer will also be looking at ways to specifically help young families, like finding volunteers to read to groups of children.
“My guess is when you’re dealing with a lot of babies, you may want to have more grandmothers come in and just rock babies.”
People who want to volunteer can call Michelle Mungar Lumley at 1-403-240-3000, extension 113 or by e-mail at michelle@rmhsouthernalberta.org.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com