Donated pillows relieve burden on families with hospitalised children

Hundreds of donated pillows are helping Ronald McDonald House Charities to provide families in need with vital rest and relaxation. The donation – given by ‘people-first and planet-first’ hospitality giant Hotel Co 51 – is just part of a wider movement of community-conscious hotels making great strides to secure a circular and more sustainable future.

Keeping families together

Since 1989, Ronald McDonald House Charities have supported more than 95,000 families by providing free ‘home away from home’ accommodation while their children are in hospital. Easing the unimaginable strain faced by these families, Ronald McDonald House Charities ensure parents remain close to their children and help them ‘find comfort, support, and a sense of community . . . The range of amenities and facilities offered ensures that families have everything they need to make their stay as comfortable and stress-free as possible’ (Rachel Tween, Tooting House Manager).

With the cost of living crisis placing a heavy financial burden on millions of households, this charity’s fantastic work keeping loved-ones together in times of hardship has never been more salient. With them, ‘families have access to full communal facilities, including a kitchen, lounge, playroom, and laundry,’ as well as all-important ‘opportunities for families to connect and support each other during their time at the House.’

How did A Good Thing help?

As is the case with thousands of charities across the UK, Ronald McDonald House Charities faces constant budgetary pressure. That’s where A Good Thing was able to play a vital role.

Once they’d downloaded the app, Ronald McDonald House Charities found the process of receiving donations ‘seamless . . . extremely quick and very user-friendly’ – and before long they’d connected with Hotel Co 51. Hotel Co 51 is a growing hotel operator ‘aiming to break new ground with [their] sustainable, feel-good and people-centred philosophy’ – and supporting the circular economy is a central part of that mission. They made the decision to join A Good Thing to enable their surplus items to have the best possible impact in local communities, and were very quickly able to offer Ronald McDonald House Charities hundreds of pillows which would otherwise have gone to landfill.

‘The donation,’ Rachel told us, ‘has been distributed among three Ronald McDonald Houses in London, benefiting the family bedrooms in each house. Such generous donations not only provide comfort to families during their stay but also help relieve budgetary pressure, allowing the houses to allocate resources to other critical areas of support. We're truly grateful for this wonderful donation and the positive impact it will have on the families and the houses.’

If this match proves one thing, it’s that no donation is too small to make a big difference; old, used and surplus items can all provide a lifeline for local charities, which in turn enables them to continue supporting people in need all over the country. Hundreds of businesses and charities agree that with our app, doing a good thing has never been easier.

How can hotels help?

UK hotels produce 289,700 tonnes of waste every year. While some of that is food waste, much of it includes packaging, bedding, cosmetic and electrical items – all of which can go from trash to treasure in the right hands. Companies like Hotel Co 51 know this puts the hotel industry in a unique position to be able to support a huge range of charities across the UK. We’d encourage hoteliers nationwide to join A Good Thing to see just how easily they too can transform their communities.

As always, A Good Thing is enormously proud of the inspiring change it’s been able to facilitate, as well as the exciting connections between businesses and charities that continue to be made.

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