Rollin` Down the River at Splash Country 30 Years and

Fall, 2008
1705 West Clinch Avenue
Knoxville, Tennessee 37916
www.knoxrmhc.org
Rollin’ Down the River
What could make for a
more enjoyable summer’s day
than the beauty of the Smoky
Mountains coupled with the fun
found at the Southeast’s premier
water park?!!
Mother Nature certainly cooperated by giving us a cloudless
day and perfect temperatures
to accommodate the hundreds
of happy “floaters” who turned
out to mosey around the Lazy
River…all to raise funds for
our House.
Thanks to the overwhelming support of our “family” at
Dollywood’s Splash Country and
the trilogy of stations from Journal Broadcast Group, $36,327
at Splash Country
Getting ready to roll
was raised on a sunny Saturday
in May. Better still, plans are
already underway for the 2009
event that P.R. Director Pete
Owens hopes will soon become
our largest annual fundraiser.
1-2-3…Float!
30 Years and Counting for the KFI
Holiday Cards
Are on the Way
The winning bid
Ready to tee off
As old friends gathered back
in 1978 to play a little golf and
to renew friendships, some even
dating back to college days, no
one could have dreamed that the
fateful game would be the gen-
esis of an event that would ultimately raise nearly a half-million
dollars over the years for Knoxville’s Ronald McDonald House.
It just so happened that in
1985, $400 was left in the golf-
er’s “kitty” and a suggestion was
made to donate the bounty to the
newly opened RMH and the rest,
so they say, is history.
This year’s tournament held
August 2 at Oak Ridge Country
Club was once again “sold out”
and a capacity crowd at the dinner/auction that followed, with
help from Bear Stephenson,
TN.’s premier auctioneer, raised
a phenomenal $37,000! A weak
economy ??! I don’t think so!!
Ms. Katie Long, a
vivacious and talented
young lady from Kingsport, TN, was delighted to be chosen as our
2008 artist extraordinaire. A package of 20
cards is only $15.00
and they’ll be available
in late November. Call
the House to reserve
yours today!
RMH Tournament…Scores an Eagle!
What easier way could
there be to help children
the world over than by
enjoying your favorite
McDonald’s foods?
On November 20,
McDonald’s will donate
$1.00 from the sale of
each Breakfast Extra
Value Meal® and beef
sandwiches (excluding
Happy
Meals®
and
Mighty Kid Meals®). You
can also help by purchasing a “Hand” for $1.00
from November 10 – 20
that will be displayed instore during the promotion. Last year’s event
was a grand success,
netting our House over
$22,000! Your support
truly does make a difference. See you there!!
For non-profits across the
country, 2008 has proven to be
a challenging year in terms of
fundraising. And with a record
number of golf tournaments in
the area, we weren’t sure how
this year’s RMH Charity Golf
Tournament would fare.
Ever hopeful we proceeded
and imagine our delight to find
ist gift bag, and bountiful meals
donated by the Burger-family
McDonald’s, Oliver’s Catering,
and Texas Roadhouse.
Hats off to our generous
sponsors, dedicated committee
members, and host of volunteers
who made this a memorable and
lucrative event.
Ronald & friend hit the links
It’s a birdie
The Classics Never Die
A Gift No Box
Can Hold
This year as you make
your holiday shopping
list, why don’t you consider making a gift to the
RMH to honor a friend,
client, or a loved one?!
It’s so easy too..no need
to worry about size or
color..no exchanges or
returns. It’s the perfect
“one gift that fits all!”
You’ll receive a tax receipt for your donation
and the recipient will
receive this card:
we exceeded last year’s total
income by $30,000 and in the
process decreased expenses
by $3,400! Counting our in-kind
gifts, we were dollars away from
raising $100,000!
148 golfers hit the links on
June 6 at Egwani Farms and enjoyed the new one-day format,
great weather, a wonderful Title-
A possible winner?
One definition of the word
“Classic” is…a famous traditional
event…and a very special event
we look forward to each year is
the Smoky Mtn. Classic Chevy
Club Car Show held in Pigeon
Forge, TN.
This late spring fundraiser
held on May 16 at the Music
Road Hotel was a true “classic” in every sense of the word.
Weather was picture-perfect,
the number of entries, 187, held
steady in spite of spiraling fuel
costs and throngs of eager car
enthusiasts enjoyed the reminiscing that was inspired by the
vintage autos. Event spokesman
John Clark gives full credit for
their ongoing success, now in its
31st year, to their dedicated club
members who work year round,
knowing their efforts will touch
the lives of so many folks in need
within their community.
Chrome connoisseur
Sweet Treats Yield $$!
Folks with an overactive sweet tooth were able
to enjoy decadent, madefrom-scratch
cupcakes
and help the House, all at
the same time.
Meredith & Scott
Layton opened the Cupcakery in June of this year
and immediately knew
they wanted to do more
for the community than
provide mouth-water-
ing confections.“Community
Cup” was their idea in which
they would create a “flavor
of the month” and donate
$1.00 from the sale of each
of these cupcakes to an area
nonprofit.
Our RMH was delighted
to be chosen as the inaugural charity for August with
strawberry shortcake as our
designated flavor. An extra
bonus for our families was
the delivery of a dozen
cupcakes each week during the promotion. What a
sweet way to make $615.
Family Focus: The Whaleys
Timing, they say, is everything! So, what better time to anticipate the birth of their first child
than during summer vacation,
thought teachers husband/wife
Kelly and Scottie Whaley from
Johnson City, Tennessee. With
the baby due in mid-July, there
would be time after school let
out to work on the nursery…with
several weeks left before school
began to spend quality time with
their new son.
But newborns are notorious
for their inability to tell time and
little Jackson Whaley was no exception as he made his worldly
debut 5 weeks early. And his
grand entrance caused more
than the usual excitement associated with a birth as he was in
“full code” and had the doctors
immediately scrambling. When
things settled down a bit in the
operating room, Jackson was
also discovered to have a cleft
palate and a lower jaw issue
called Pierre Robin Syndrome.
Once the new parents realized that they’d be facing an
extended hospitalization, they
quickly ruled out the 200 mile
round trip home as an option
and turned to a social worker at
Children’s for some guidance…
where a quick phone call con-
Proud parents with little Jackson
firmed a vacancy at our House.
Scottie recalls the day he and
Kelly checked in, “We couldn’t
believe how nice it was. The
House was absolutely beautiful.
What peace of mind it brought
us not having to worry about a
place to stay”.
Once settled, they were able
to turn their full attention to the
baby who was beginning to experience some breathing difficulties. Extensive testing revealed
a rare condition…calcifications
on the brainstem that were the
cause of little Jackson’s respiratory issues. It was finally deter-
Volunteer Spotlight: Debra Smith
Our Debra
Remember the Ajax cleaner commercials from the early
70’s that promised a “white tornado” would leave your home
sparkling clean?!
Well, for 10 years now, we’ve
been privileged to have our own
“brunette
tornado”…volunteer
Debra Smith whose energy and
vitality is awe-inspiring.
Within minutes of her arrival,
she’s whirled into the kitchen to
prepare one of her legendary
pasta dinners that our families
eagerly anticipate. Then, she’ll
make a quick spin through the
living room to straighten up a
bit and perhaps will dash to
answer the phone or greet a
family coming in for the night. In
other words, there’s never a dull
moment when she’s around.
With a background in sales
and management it’s little
wonder she has elevated
multi-tasking into an artform.
After a long day at the
hospital, families are drawn
to her warm smile and ready
humor. Debra loves nothing more
than listening and learning about
their children. “The fellowship
with the families is what keeps
me coming back,” she says.
“Love is the greatest gift of
all and I see so much of it at
the House.”
In those rare moments
of “down” time, she enjoys
spending it with husband Frank
as they love to travel, bike, hike,
and ride their motorcycle.
Businesswoman, wife, volunteer…and she still has energy
to spare!
mined that a trach would greatly
ease his efforts to breathe and
almost immediately after surgery
the result was quite positive.
Doctors even began to talk
of every parent’s dream…going
home…once the baby reached
11 pounds. Ounce by ounce,
Jackson continued to gain as
his parents sat by his side offering their love, hugs, and encouragement to help him on his
way. Caring friends made the
waiting easier to bear with their
many kindnesses such as Scottie’s golfing buddies that held a
golf tournament in the Whaley’s
honor, sending the proceeds to
a surprised yet grateful couple.
“We just sat down and cried at
how blessed we are to have
such good friends,” Kelly said.
The end of summer brought the
beginning of school and with it,
some tough decisions. Since
Scottie had accrued more leave
time at work, it was decided that
he’d stay at the RMH and Kelly
would reluctantly return to the
classroom…opting to drive down
for weekend visits.
But, hopefully, the end is in
sight as Jackson has not only
reached, but has exceeded the
doctor’s prescribed weight requirement…with his final hurdle
being his tolerance of a vent.
Scottie and Kelly feel that if all
goes well they’ll be heading
home within 3-4 weeks ending
a nearly 4-month stay at our
House. “The RMH has truly
been a blessing to us. You
never realize how important a
place like this is until you are the
one staying here. Without it, we
would have been driving 2 hours
each way or sleeping in the hospital lounge. It’s a wonderful
place and this entire experience
has been so humbling”.
Coach Keys Court
How can you ever begin to
thank someone who’s responsible for giving for you a $481,500
gift?
That was the challenge
posed to us by the KFI Board
who wanted a special recognition for the founding inspiration
of this philanthropic group, Keys
Fillauer to celebrate the 30th
anniversary of a golf tournament bearing his name. One of
his pre-retirement pursuits was
coaching basketball…a job he
enjoyed at both Robertsville Junior High School and Oak Ridge
High School for a total of 31
years. It was from that passion
an idea was born to erect a basketball goal within our children’s
play area to honor him.
And it was obviously “meant
to be” as the idea went from the
drawing board to completion
within a week’s time (with the
help of Mark Brodd from Blaine
Construction).Keys was totally
surprised at the August 2 KFI
awards dinner by fellow Board
member John Hunter who presented him with a collage chron-
icling the building of the tribute
and was touched as well by the
inscription he read…
Many of basketball’s great
shrines are named after great
coaches. There is Rupp Arena in
Lexington… North Carolina plays
in the Dean Smith Dome… Georgia Tech players play on the Bobby Cremins Court. TN Vols & Lady
Vols play on a court named “The
Summitt”. In Durham, NC, Duke’s
Blue Devils play in Cameron Stadium on “Coach K’s Court” honoring
Coach Mike Krzyzewski. Now in
Knoxville, we honor another great
basketball coach at our Ronald McDonald House. Our new miniature
children’s basketball court will now
and forever be known simply and
lovingly as “Coach Keys’ Court”.
The one and only…Coach Keys
Non-Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage
1705 W. CLINCH AVENUE • KNOXVILLE, TN 37916
www.knoxrmhc.org
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
PAID
Permit No. 834
Knoxville, TN
2008 Board of Directors:
Laura Barnes
Ron Bomers
Mark Brodd
John Buckingham
Jo Cochran
Greg Erickson
Lynne Fain
Keys Fillauer
Mark Gaylord, M.D.
Keith Goodwin
Jamie Hahn
Terri Hale
Myra Haynes
Julie Howard
Joanne Huddleston
John Hunter
Kirk Icuss
Renè Jordan
David Martin
Jane Martin
Ed Pershing
John Sheridan
Cindy Spence
William Terry, M.D.
Kindnesses of the Heart
It’s not how much we have, but how much we share that makes happiness.”
-Spurgion
While we can’t possibly acknowledge all
our wonderful donors, we’d like to
highlight a few:
Anne Martin and ladies of the
Thursday Evening Fellowship Group at
Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church for
all the creative ways they’ve found to help
us, such as making “Welcome Bags” filled
with goodies for our families.
Our wonderfully generous friend at
Thomasville Home Furnishings, Larry
Young, for all the lovely furniture he’s donated to us that now graces our House.
Food City, a very philanthropic grocery chain, for the bounty of food they’ve
shared with us. Recent donations have
stocked not only our pantries but also our
freezers.
Some dedicated chefs who provide
meals each month that includes: mother
& son volunteers Mike & Alice Rogers,
Catholic Singles, CVS/Caremark, Knoxville Church, ORNL, and the Willows
Apts. How wonderful for families returning “Home” after a long day at the hospital
to find a feast awaiting them!
We were delighted to be adopted
again this year by a dozen talented members of the Scripps Network. Their company allows employees to spend a day
each fall at the charity of their choice and
for 8 hours, these good-hearted folks
cleaned, painted, repaired, mowed, and
weeded.
Brand Source, who once again this
year, is donating 5 appliances of our
choice and is making the same wonderful
offer to all other RMH’s as well.
The talented ladies of Alpha Delta
Kappa, a retired educator’s organization,
who decorated our Houses from top to
bottom with autumn finery.
Volunteer hard at work