Members of the Grundy County Farm Bureau Thursday evening heard about the Ronald McDonald houses in Kansas City.
Community Relations Manager Alan Lubert was the speaker for the annual meeting. Lubert stated there are four Ronald McDonald Houses in Kansas City which collectively, have a total of 87 bedrooms. Lubert reported 7,685 families were served last year while their seriously ill or injured children were hospitalized at Kansas City.
The Ronald McDonald Houses operate on a four million dollar budget. Revenue comes from fundraising activities and donations. One of them, which often involves schools among others, is the collection of tabs from aluminum pop cans. Lubert said more than 26 thousand pounds of the pop tabs were recycling last year; raising over 15 thousand dollars. Lubert said the staff of 25 employees are assisted by some 200 volunteers. The first Ronald McDonald House at Kansas City opened in 1981. Persons attending the Farm Bureau meeting donated non-perishable products for Lubert to take to the Ronald McDonald Houses.
During the business meeting, members re-elected the board of directors. President of the board, David Meservey, presented Farm Bureau mini-grants to Suzi Beck of Trenton Middle School and Rebecca Steinhoff of Pleasant View R-6. Several resolutions were adopted which the Grundy County Farm Bureau will present at the statewide meeting of the Farm Bureau in December.
