First, let me thank Mark Strong of the FML who emailed me last Fall with
the idea of our club doing an Education Day at this wonderful organization.
One of our volunteers wrote a re-cap of the event below....Shari Gunter:
 
"It takes a lot of LOVE to make a house a home."
That's what is printed on the cover of the information brochure for the
Ronald McDonald House of Durham, NC.
 
But, we found out it only takes four ferrets and ten kids to make up a
dining room full of LOVE!
 
It was a very emotional adventure.  Quite a place, that Ronald McDonald
House of Durham!  A lot of energy, a lot of group spirit, and, it seemed to
me, a huge amount of peace in the middle of all that activity.
 
McDonald's provides 10% of the funding for the 22-bedroom house and
residents pay only $10 per night to stay while a young family member
receives treatment for cancer, sickle cell anemia, lung or kidney disease
at Duke or Lenox Baker Children's Hospitals.  Corporations, individuals,
foundations,and volunteers do the rest -- and TriFL is now on that giving
list!
 
Their kids LOVED our "kids" !!!!!  Not one bit of reluctance to come into
the dining area where Andi had Kirby and Caity had Adric, Romana, and Avon.
David and I didn't bring any ferrerts (ours are nippers and were left at
home), so we brought ferret tubes, toys, hammocks, and a litter pan to use
during the education session.
 
That portion of the program was short-lived!  We told a few parents and
staff members about being owned by a ferret, but the kids were young -- 2
months to about 7 years -- and they just wanted to PLAY WITH THE FERRETS.
And play they did!
 
They chased 'em under the tables and around the fish tank and between each
others' legs!  They rolled the balls for 'em and fed 'em.  Then, they raced
'em through the tubes, grabbed 'em, and ran to the other end and made 'em
run through again!  And when we knotted the tube, it was hard to tell who
enjoyed it more, the human kids or the fuzzy kids!
 
Courtney, a five-year-old gearing up for a bone-marrow transplant for a
brain tumor, who walks on the toes of one foot and has little use of one
arm, who has scars nearly all over her scalp, and who wears a filter mask,
was undaunted by all of that.  She loved grabbing a ferret as it came out
of the tube, and dangling it from one arm, racing to the other end and
cheering it through again!
 
Daphne and Michael loved to cuddle the ferrets for the short time both were
still, but quickly returned to the racin' and chasin' with Jason and Sarah!
 
Ande, Caity, David, and I had to tell their kids that the ferrets were worn
out (and they WERE!) to get the kids to go with their parents for lunch,
treatment, naps, baths -- whatever was next on their regimen.
 
So we helped with the Hand-Washing with the Green Slime (disinfectant
soap), and the Michael Jordan shots of paper towels into the trash can,
after the kids helped put the ferrets into their cages for the trip home.
 
Pictures of all the kids should be coming our way, but if you can't wait to
see them -- and they only show a fraction of the story -- PLEASE join us on
our next visit to Ronald McDonald House of Durham!
 
Several of the staff told us that, "The ferrets have brought the kids out
more than even the dogs do!" (Local shelters bring dogs for the kids to
meet.)
 
And they want us to come back!  Even the Mom who was afraid of the fuzzies
is going to send us copies of the pictures she took of the children and the
ferrets, and wants us to "hurry back."
 
If anyone wants to feel good about LIFE, join us for our next visit!  I
know I'm going back!
 
Cindy Barnes
[Posted in FML issue 2562]