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Ronald McDonald House Charities with Stephanie Hayden - Chief Executive Officer, RMHC-Madison · Ask The Experts

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Thirteen ten WIBA, Madison in the morning Sewan Pray well
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  Speaker 1: with you, Joined in studio this morning by Stephanie Hayden.
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  Speaker 1: She is a CEO at the Ronald McDonald Charity House
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  Speaker 1: here in Madison.
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  Speaker 2: Stephanie, how you doing this morning?
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  Speaker 3: I'm great?
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  Speaker 1: How are you? I'm doing really good? And I've got
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  Speaker 1: to guess you say you're doing great.
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  Speaker 2: You've got to love what you do. It's what a
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  Speaker 2: great organization. I do.
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  Speaker 3: Love what I do. We get to help families every
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  Speaker 3: single day. So it's the best job. I tell people
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  Speaker 3: all the time, I have the best job in the world.
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  Speaker 2: It sounds very cool.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk about I think a lot of people are
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  Speaker 1: familiar with the Ronald McDonald House around McDonald charitys, but
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  Speaker 1: they may not know day to day what goes on,
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  Speaker 1: what is Ronald McDonald house, What actually goes on at
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  Speaker 1: the at the Ronald McDonald's house.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I often tell people what we do is very
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  Speaker 3: very simple. We care for family so they can care
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  Speaker 3: for their ill or injured child. So not only do
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  Speaker 3: we make sure families have a place to stay whenever
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  Speaker 3: their child is in the hospital, but we also make
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  Speaker 3: sure they have more meals transportations and all the comfort
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  Speaker 3: of home just here at our house, just down the
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  Speaker 3: hill from the American Family Children's Hospital.
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  Speaker 1: Is the building new or is it just recently renovated.
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  Speaker 1: It looks it looks beautiful, looks very comfortable and new.
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  Speaker 1: Is it a new building or so?
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  Speaker 3: We have been there in the same spot for thirty
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  Speaker 3: almost thirty two years. We did do a renovation in
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  Speaker 3: twenty nineteen it wrapped up, so it is relatively new
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  Speaker 3: because of the renovation and expansion we did just a
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  Speaker 3: few years ago.
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  Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about for families that have
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  Speaker 1: experienced Ronald McDonald House and what that experience is for them,
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  Speaker 1: kind of on a day to day thing. What qualifies
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  Speaker 1: families to be eligible to use the house and what's
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  Speaker 1: kind of the background there.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we serve families that have an hospitalized child
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  Speaker 3: at any of the area hospitals. So that's American Family
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  Speaker 3: Children's Hospital, Maritor or Saint Mary's and so to qualify,
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  Speaker 3: really they have to have a pediatric patient at one
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  Speaker 3: of those hospitals, and ideally for the house, they need
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  Speaker 3: to live thirty five miles or more away. We want
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  Speaker 3: to make sure we're keeping families close. We know it's important.
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  Speaker 3: Some of the best medicine is having loved ones nearby.
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  Speaker 3: So that's really what we do.
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  Speaker 1: I think of And you know what was me when
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  Speaker 1: my son was born, spending the night at the hospital.
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  Speaker 1: And I know the hospitals they do a great job
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  Speaker 1: for their patients and there and their family, but the
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  Speaker 1: reality is it's a hospital room, it's a you know,
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  Speaker 1: it's a pull out kind of situation. This really alleviates
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  Speaker 1: that problem for families that are going to be spending
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  Speaker 1: a significant amount of time in the area.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it absolutely does. I mean a lot of times
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  Speaker 3: families are staying with us for many nights, more than
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  Speaker 3: a week, more than a month, some even more than
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  Speaker 3: a year. So if you had to sleep on that
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  Speaker 3: pull out couch for a long period of time, that
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  Speaker 3: would be very painful. So we make sure that not
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  Speaker 3: only do families have that easy place to rest their
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  Speaker 3: head and comfortable place to rest their head, but also
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  Speaker 3: all of those other things such as meals, that they
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  Speaker 3: don't have to worry about anything.
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  Speaker 1: Talking this morning with Stephanie Hayten, she is the CEO
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  Speaker 1: of Ronald McDonald House here in Madison, and Stephanie, let's
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  Speaker 1: talk about Room for Comfort campaign underway. Let's talk about
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  Speaker 1: what it is and how folks can help out.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we are seeing record breaking need for our services.
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  Speaker 3: So in twenty twenty four, our occupancy was one hundred
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  Speaker 3: and ten percent. Oh, that means we were full every night.
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  Speaker 3: So our thirty one rooms were full and we were
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  Speaker 3: using hotel rooms. We're very lucky here in Madison. We
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  Speaker 3: have wonderful hotel partners that help us house families. Whenever
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  Speaker 3: our house is full, families still don't pay anything. They
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  Speaker 3: don't pay anything to stay at the house, they don't
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  Speaker 3: pay anything to stay at the hotels. And so we're
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  Speaker 3: seeing this record breaking occupancy. So if it wasn't for
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  Speaker 3: our hotel partners last year, six hundred and sixty nine
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  Speaker 3: families would have had nowhere to stay.
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  Speaker 1: Oh well, that's great to have those partners. What a
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  Speaker 1: great relationship and partnership that is. So is there anything
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  Speaker 1: folks could be doing to kind of take some action?
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  Speaker 1: And I know, as we talk about just a great
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  Speaker 1: organization and there's obviously room for folks, isn't there for help?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, So our Room for Comfort campaign is really helping
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  Speaker 3: us ensure that we are able to provide not only
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  Speaker 3: that place to stay for families, but also those all
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  Speaker 3: those other amenities that I mentioned. And starting on April
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  Speaker 3: twenty third, we're going to have a match. So we're
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  Speaker 3: looking for donations and to help us support this Room
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  Speaker 3: for Comfort campaign. So April twenty third through May third,
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  Speaker 3: every donation will be doubled. So if you donate fifty dollars,
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  Speaker 3: we have other donors that are going to match that,
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  Speaker 3: so they'll donate fifty dollars, so makes your donation one
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  Speaker 3: hundred dollars.
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  Speaker 1: So folks, could they make the donation online? Is that
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  Speaker 1: probably the best way of Rmhcmadison dot org.
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  Speaker 2: Is that the best place to go?
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  Speaker 3: That is the best place to go. Of course, some
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  Speaker 3: people don't like to donate online, so they can obviously
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  Speaker 3: mail it into the house, or if they want to
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  Speaker 3: just stop by our house and see what we do,
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  Speaker 3: we'd welcome people to do that. But obviously our MHC
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  Speaker 3: Madison dot org is the best place.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned stopping by the house and touring or visiting
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  Speaker 1: and seeing that. Could people bring you mentioned monetary donations?
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  Speaker 1: Are there other areas where folks can volunteer and help out.
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  Speaker 3: So we have lots of waste to volunteer. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we run a very large house, have a very small staff,
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  Speaker 3: and so we got to keep it clean and neat
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  Speaker 3: and tidy and all those things for our families. So
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  Speaker 3: people are always welcome to volunteer. In addition, we're running
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  Speaker 3: like a large household, just like all the things you
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  Speaker 3: need at your own house, like toilet paper and cleaning supply.
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  Speaker 3: So if people want to donate for our wish lists,
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  Speaker 3: they can also find that on our website, and they
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  Speaker 3: can donate wishless items as well.
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  Speaker 1: You know what's it's interesting as we as we talked
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  Speaker 1: this morning, of course, joined by Stephanie Hayen, CEO at
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  Speaker 1: Ronald McDonald House here in Madison.
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  Speaker 2: I think sometimes obviously it's it's such a phenomenal organization,
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  Speaker 2: so well known.
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  Speaker 1: I think sometimes people think that because of that, there's
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  Speaker 1: no need, there's not that those that like everything, there's
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  Speaker 1: a budget, there's a need, there's there's staff, there's all
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  Speaker 1: these things, and I think getting the word out that
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  Speaker 1: this is something and how we started this conversation off
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  Speaker 1: this week talking about how can you how can you
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  Speaker 1: not be in a great mood about this, How rewarding
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  Speaker 1: it is to help out, help out in such a
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  Speaker 1: great way, to help out kids and their families be
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  Speaker 1: comfortable during a really, really hard time for them.
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  Speaker 3: I think that's one of the great thing about our volunteers.
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  Speaker 3: They'll come in saying like they leave with more than
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  Speaker 3: they you know, gave, they feel like and even I
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  Speaker 3: mentioned volunteers to you know, help us clean, but also
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  Speaker 3: just to come in and make a meal. We have
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  Speaker 3: a beautiful kitchen, would welcome folks to come in and
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  Speaker 3: make a homemade meal so that those families had that
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  Speaker 3: warm meal when they come home. But I think folks
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  Speaker 3: who volunteer get as much out of it as they give.
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  Speaker 2: Well, let's talk Stefanie about that Leo. You mentioned.
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  Speaker 1: You got the big kitchen, you got the space, How
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  Speaker 1: does like a little behind the curve, How does the
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  Speaker 1: inner workings of the Ronald McDonald's house, what goes on
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  Speaker 1: inside there?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I think every day is a little
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  Speaker 3: bit different, but we make sure that our families have
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  Speaker 3: access to three meals a day. So one of the
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  Speaker 3: things we're very proud of here in Madison is that
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  Speaker 3: we take care of our families every need that they
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  Speaker 3: might have and so we make sure there's three meals
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  Speaker 3: a day for families. We have volunteers that come in
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  Speaker 3: and make sure and make meals we send or make lunches.
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  Speaker 3: We send lunches up to the American Family Children's Hospital
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  Speaker 3: every day so that any family that has a child
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  Speaker 3: in the hospital has access to nutritious, healthy meals.
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  Speaker 1: Are there are there entertainment? Like I think of two
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  Speaker 1: of you know, we think of and Madison. What a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful city to you know, to spend time in. But
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, sometimes you just want
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  Speaker 1: to do something maybe lay low entertainment options available at
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  Speaker 1: the at the at the house, like are they Netflix
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  Speaker 1: or what? You know, just kind of yeah, we may.
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  Speaker 3: Have the biggest collection of DVD. Sometimes it's interesting to
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  Speaker 3: watch the kids walk in like what are these things
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  Speaker 3: because you know they're housed to Netflix. But we have
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  Speaker 3: a playroom, we have a park, we have an art room.
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  Speaker 3: We have so many amenities for families. We really do
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  Speaker 3: try to take care of everything that they need. We
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  Speaker 3: also plan special events. Just last week we had a
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  Speaker 3: bingo event. We've brought in characters, we had a Frozen night.
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  Speaker 3: So we make sure that we have events throughout the
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  Speaker 3: year as well for families, because if you have a
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  Speaker 3: child in the hospital, they're not able to you know,
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  Speaker 3: you know, have those opportunities, so we try to bring
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  Speaker 3: it right to them.
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  Speaker 1: I was and speaking of bringing things right to them,
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  Speaker 1: you guys have a mobile a little bit different, and
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  Speaker 1: I just I'm sorry this, but I figure i've.
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  Speaker 2: Got you here. I want to ask you about.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've seen it's a it's like a nice trailer
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  Speaker 1: that you guys bring out in some of the communities.
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  Speaker 2: Like an RV.
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  Speaker 3: It's a carmobile's what we call it. It's a forty
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  Speaker 3: foot pediatric clinic on wheels. It may we spends most
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  Speaker 3: of its time in northern Illinois and Rock County. It
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  Speaker 3: goes around to schools, community centers, does immunizations, wild checks,
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  Speaker 3: really bringing care to where kids need it.
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  Speaker 2: Do we forget that sometimes?
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  Speaker 1: I think sometimes that we get We get very much
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  Speaker 1: in our and I get it, you know, we're busy.
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  Speaker 1: We forget that there are some areas that aren't as
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  Speaker 1: well served here in Madison. Obviously, we are very lucky.
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  Speaker 1: We've got world class institutions, We've got all these different things.
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  Speaker 1: It's not too far outside of Madison. City Central. Things
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  Speaker 1: do look a little different out there, don't they.
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  Speaker 3: They absolutely do. I mean, I think we're very blessed
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  Speaker 3: here in Madison. We have amazing healthcare here in the
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  Speaker 3: city and even in the surrounding suburbs. But if you
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  Speaker 3: go just a little bit further out, they may not
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  Speaker 3: have as access to as much as we do. And
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  Speaker 3: we really try to bring using the car moobile, bring
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  Speaker 3: care to kids to you know, reach them where they're at.
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  Speaker 3: And so obviously being at schools is the best way
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  Speaker 3: to get that care to them.
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  Speaker 1: Really good data to make that, make that opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: take that opportunity to head on over to the website
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  Speaker 1: r m HC Maatdison dot org.
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  Speaker 2: That's our MHC Madison dot org.
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  Speaker 1: They've got the matching campaign right now with the Room
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  Speaker 1: for Comfort, also opportunities you're looking to volunteer, you want
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  Speaker 1: to you want to give a little bit of time,
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  Speaker 1: more other ways. They've got all sorts of great stuff
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  Speaker 1: up at the website r m Hcmadison dot com. That's
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  Speaker 1: our MHC Madison dot org. I have to correct myself
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  Speaker 1: dot org on that. Stephanie, thank you so much for
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  Speaker 1: joining us this morning. And great to see you.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: And again that website our MHC Madison dot org. More
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  Speaker 1: of Madison in the morning. It comes your way next
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  Speaker 1: right here on thirteen ten wyb A