Making a difference, one meal at a time

By Tim Spitzack | Editor | August 2026

Anyone who has spent time at a loved one’s side during an extended hospital stay understands the disruptions that occur. Early morning and late-night visits. Anxious moments waiting to see a doctor or get test results, or for surgery to begin – and end. Hours pass and days blend, one into another. Lunches often come from hospital cafeterias with bland and expensive food, or from a vending machine, and dinners from a sack retrieved through a drive-through window.

Thanks to the Ronald McDonald House, families with kids at two hospitals in St. Paul can catch a break. Their Cooks for Kids program offers patients and their families free home-cooked meals three times a day, as well as grab-and-go meals and snacks.

The Kurt Neil and June Klaphake family of Mendota Heights learned this firsthand back in 2017. One moment their 15-year-old daughter Elizabeth was whizzing down a ski slope in Duluth, and the next she was in an emergency room being treated for a traumatic brain injury. After two weeks of care, she was transferred to Gillette Children’s Hospital in St. Paul, where she spent another six weeks. During that ordeal, the family benefitted from Cooks for Kids, which offered them some semblance of normalcy during a crazy and frightening time.

“Ronald McDonald House was down the hallway and helped us just sort of hold it all together,” said June of those days during Elizabeth’s recovery. “[Having a meal there] just felt like one less thing to think about or worry about. It was nice that there was somebody hosting it…and you knew they were thinking about you.”

The meals – and the volunteers who prepared them – made such an impact on June that she decided to return to Gillette to pay it forward. Now, she and daughter Leah, 19, go to Gillette several times a year to cook a meal. Kurt, and Elizabeth who made a full recovery and is now a teacher, sometimes join them.

“It’s a nice way where people can gather around a dining table to have a family meal – with the patient or without – rather than always be in that patient’s room or in an intensive care unit,” said June. “One of the most striking things for me is that you might find some of the same people – patients and families – who are there for months…. They recognize you and there is a good feeling of connection.”

Last year, volunteers served more than 3,500 meals at Gillette Children’s and Children’s St. Paul. However, the need is great, and more people are needed to lend a hand.

“We serve three meals a day, 365 days a year,” said Meagan LeMay, volunteer program manager for Ronald McDonald House Charities Upper Midwest. “We are responsible for over 21,000 meals at the St. Paul hospital sites each year, so volunteer support is essential.”

Last year 400 volunteers assisted with the Cooks for Kids program at Gillette and 85 at Children’s St. Paul. Volunteers most often help with dinners and weekend brunch and provide a meal for 30 people. Any food not eaten is packaged for grab-and-go meals and snacks. Some volunteers plan their own menu and shop for the ingredients, while others let the nonprofit do the shopping and planning for them. Others skip that process altogether and purchase meals from a local restaurant. Those not purchasing a meal will prep and cook all food on site, serve it and clean up afterward.

While some volunteers provide only their time and culinary skills, most also give the money needed to support a meal for 30. They do this individually or as part of a group and pay $250 per meal, or possibly less if they shop for the food themselves. Catering is bit more expensive, running $300-600. Regardless of what one can contribute, families in crisis appreciate the gesture.

“Families consistently say the meal program is one of the most impactful services we provide,” said LeMay. Ronald McDonald House also offers lodging at both hospitals for family members of children undergoing care. To learn more or to get involved with the program, visit rmhc-uppermidwest.org or call 612-331-5752.

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