My name is Maria Babineau!
I started volunteering at Ronald McDonald House in 2021. I decided to host a Pizza & Video Game event at Ronald McDonald House in Ottawa, Canada. I projected my Nintendo Switch on a big screen in their family room and played video games such as Mario Kart, Smash Bros and Minecraft with five kids staying there! I made homemade pizzas for all the families at the house! One of the families said I brought them a little joy in a hard day. From that point, I made a mission: to host pizza and video game event to as many families staying at Ronald McDonald Houses around the world!
In 2023, I decided to teach my Grade 4/5 class about Ronald McDonald House. A few days later, my students challenged me to break an official Guinness World Record for Fastest Marathon Dribbling a Basketball (female) to raise money for RMH! We raised over $1200 dollars to buy a new basketball net for RMH Ottawa and bring awareness to the charity!
Shortly after, my Grade 4/5 class and I decided to build portable video game carts so that sick children at RMH could easily access and enjoy video games during their stay. We sold Hot Chocolate to raise over $3500 and build 2 carts deivering them in person. We then used the extra money to create over 400 Kindness Kits filled with necessities for families to take from RMH to the hospitals. Our class received the Certificate of Appreciation from the House of Commons!
My mission is to host as many pizza & video game events to Ronald McDonald Houses Worldwide! I want to spread a little joy to families going through a hard time and bring awareness to the amazing charity, RMHC!