I just had to call attention to this announcement from today:
You might not care much for McDonald's food, and you might think Ronald McDonald the clown is kind of stupid, and I wouldn't dispute you. But I have to say that the Ronald McDonald House program is one of the great things in a world that can be very difficult for families of sick children.
When our son Jeremy was 17, he contracted Hodgkins Disease, a virulent form of cancer that nearly killed him. We were living in Brattleboro, Vermont, at the time, and had to take frequent trips up to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington for Jeremy's chemotherapy treatments. The Ronald McDonald House in Burlington was a life-saver for us, giving us a comfortable place to stay in a family atmosphere at no charge -- at a time when finances were very low, as we had to take a lot of time off work for the all-consuming trials of caring for a child with cancer (along with two other younger ones).
So I for one am grateful to United Online for providing free NetZero VoIP services for families staying in any of the 155 U.S.-based Ronald McDonald Houses -- and to any readers who have ever been thoughtful enough to drop a quarter or a dollar in the little box next to the cash register at the McDonald's counter.
As to Jeremy, in August my wife and I and his sister and two brothers were all together this past August to be with him at his wedding in the rain in a beautiful garden high on a hill in Guilford, Vermont.
AB -- 12/8/05
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