Our Ronald McDonald Family room provides all the comforts of home to sick and injured children and their families at Mackay Base Hospital. Family Room volunteers, aka our "Smile Squad" are a vital part of making families feel welcome!

Smile Squad Volunteer Duties Shift duties may include:

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• Welcoming families to the Family Room and showing them the facilities available for their use

• Light cleaning duties – vacuuming, dusting, sanitising benchtops, etc

• Accepting and sorting deliveries of goods

• Refreshing sleeping rooms once used – re-making beds, vacuuming floors, sanitising surfaces

• Engaging with families using the space – have a cuppa and a chat or play a board game together!

Skills and Experience

Our Smile Squad volunteers don’t need to have previous experience – just a positive attitude and friendly smile! We will provide volunteers with training needed and for your first shift, you’ll be paired up with one of our experienced volunteers who will familiarise you with the day-to-day of the Family Room!

Social Impact 2023

More than 2,200 families from the Mackay Region were supported by Ronald McDonald House Charities North Australia. This includes 340 families who were able to sleep close-by to their sick child at Mackay Base Hospital by utilising or Sleeping Rooms and 1,350 families who visited our Family Room shared space.

About Ronald McDonald House Charities

Ronald McDonald House Charities was founded in Philadelphia, USA in 1974 with one goal in mind: to provide a home-away-from-home for families of children in hospital where they could get some rest away from the ward.

The first Ronald McDonald House was opened in Australia in 1981 in NSW. Since then, RMHC Australia has grown to 19 Houses across the country. We are also proud to include other programs such as 19 Family Rooms, 5 Family Retreats our Hospitality Cart program and our Learning Program.

Thanks to the generosity of our communities, vital partners, incredible staff and tireless team of superstar volunteers, RMHC Australia supports more than 40,000 families per year!