Riding it out for the children

More than 30 people from the McDonald’s “community” swapped their business clothes for lycra last week to raise funds for seriously ill children.

The 35-strong cycling squad, made up of McDonald’s suppliers and charity supporters, rode the last leg of the 550-kilometre Ronald McDonald House Charities’ (RMHC) Victorian Ride for Sick Kids on Friday.

They rode into Parkville’s Ronald McDonald House, where a barbecue lunch and the people they were riding for awaited them.

The Victorian Ride for Sick Kids began in 2011 as an alternative way to raise funds for RMHC programs.

This year’s funds will be distributed towards the end of the year in Victoria and Tasmania.

Each program provides support for families with seriously ill children in the form of accommodation, hospital assistance, education, health initiatives and financial grants.

The Ronald McDonald houses, located near the women’s and children’s hospitals, also act as a “home-away-from-home” for those families.

Five-year-old Sandra May welcomed this year’s cyclists with open arms.

Sandra May was diagnosed in July with a form of brain cancer known as Medulloblastoma. She is undergoing six weeks of radiation therapy at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

She and her mother, Margaret Erutoe, now call Ronald McDonald House home.

“We live in the east (of the state), so we would have had to drive backwards and forwards every day to get the right treatment,” Ms Erutoe said.

“The Ronald McDonald House family have been so supportive, supplying travel and accommodation,” she said.

“We’ve also been able to meet other families here who are experiencing the same thing. It’s been awesome.”

RMHC executive officer Peter Bishop said the ride was an opportunity for the McDonald’s community to get involved for a week and support these seriously ill children.

“The ride runs in conjunction with our gala ball and golf day, but this is another avenue where all these people can get involved and help in a different way,” Mr Bishop said.

“The cyclists have individually gained sponsorship, but there’s also been corporations and companies who support the ride along the way.”

Brett Tooley, committee chairman of RMHC Ride for Sick Kids, helped to set up the event, which he said was well on the way to raising more than $500 thousand this year.

“There’s been some really good money raised and enormous support from the regions we’ve visited; it’s almost indescribable,” Mr Tooley said.

This year’s cyclists kicked off their ride in Launceston on August 23 with a fundraising event to support Ronald McDonald House in Hobart.

The team then made their way to Geelong, Lorne, Colac, Ballarat and Williamstown, holding events at each town to raise more money for the RMHC programs.

Mr Bishop said the funds raised by the ride will help the Ronald McDonald houses, such as those in Monash and Parkville, continue operating.

“At Parkville alone we’re running at 98 per cent occupancy, so it’s important to keep our facilities up to scratch,” he said.

“In our situation, we’ve had a number of children who’ve had heart or liver transplants and can’t necessarily travel straight home, so they’ll be here and going over daily to the hospital.” 

“The house gives them a little transition before the big move back home — these funds help the families,” Mr Bishop said. 

At last week’s Williamstown event, Mr Tooley said around $59,000 was raised in a room of 100 people.

“A lot of the visitors to these Ronald McDonald Houses are heavily regional, so they see the benefit of what happens at these houses and understand the value these charities contribute,” Mr Tooley said.