Dinner in a Dash

The joy of cooking together, and providing our families with a nourishing meal.

A home cooked meal is often taken for granted and it’s for that reason we set up ‘Dinner in a Dash’. The program invites you to cook a meal from the heart, for the families staying at Ronald McDonald House in Orange.

After a long day by their child’s hospital bed, cooking a meal may be the last thing on a parent’s mind. By simply preparing a homemade dinner for our families, you can ease the burden of a difficult journey.

Our warm and supportive house provides a ‘home away from home’ for families when they need it most – they are away from their home town, having travelled from across the state so that their child can receive treatment in Orange.

The Corporate Partnership programs are vital and play a critical part in how we support the families of ill and injured children who are either staying with us in-house and also through our hospitality cart servicing the paediatric ward and Special Care Nursery at Dubbo hospital.

A little bit about our ‘Dinner in a Dash’ program…

Community groups and Corporate teams come into Ronald McDonald House in Orange to prepare meals for our families staying with us, which provides comfort and nourishment when they need it most. The meals are then available for them to grab at any time of day or night from our fridges and freezers.

RMHC Central West provides the containers for the meals, and the group purchase the ingredients to make the meals.

We find that our ‘Dinner in a Dash’ partners feel that is a rewarding, team building experience and they leave the house feeling uplifted and inspired.

We would love to have you involved in the program and we can also provide the team with a tour of the house, and chat through what we do here for our families while you and the team are here.

Our requirements for participating in our ‘Dinner in a Dash’ program are:

Each person attending must sign our Code of Conduct and Ethics (either to be sent in prior or brought on the day)
We require a minimum of one person in the group to have a Working With Children Check (Volunteer) – copy to be kept on our file
We have a checklist for each group to work through on the day from setup to clean up
RMHC will provide the containers and labels. If you can let us know what you will be cooking prior and what is in the recipe we can make up the labels for you and include the work logo
The Corporate team brings the ingredients to cook the meals
We provide a tour of the house for your team at the end of the session
We take photos throughout and at the end of the cooking for socials and ensure that you are tagged on our pages (Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin)

A great addition to your time in the house is to schedule in a meeting with your team in our Board Room prior to commencing your cooking session – please let me know if you would like to add this in.

How Does ‘Dinner in a Dash’ Work?

1. Use the enquiry form below to check which dates are available for your group. Our Ronald McDonald House Central West team will communicate with you via phone or email and confirm.

2. Determine what you are cooking and purchase your food.

3. If you feel like taking full advantage of the experience, please feel free to choose your own theme to ‘dress up’ in. This is always a big hit with our families!

4. Let RMHC know what you are cooking and we can create labels for the containers (which will include your log, ingredients and the date cooked). We can provide the containers.

5. Ensure one member of your group at least has a valid WWCC, and all members have signed the Code of Conduct.

6. When you arrive at Ronald McDonald House Orange for your ‘Dinner in a Dash’ cooking session, you will complete get settled in and complete an induction to the House with a team member from the House. enjoy a beautiful tour of our Orange House

7. Get slicing, dicing, mixing and cooking preparing the recipes that you have brought with you

8. You may see families coming and going through the House – please chat to them if they have time!

9. Portion up your cooked meals into containers that we provide for you and place the food into our Family fridges for them to enjoy.

10. All-important clean up! Complete the Dinner in a Dash checklist.

11. Enjoy a tour of the House with a team member from Ronald McDonald House Orange

Check out our social pages to see photos and reels from our current ‘Dinner in a Dash’ partners

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a minimum age requirement?

The minimum age for participation in our ‘Dinner in a Dash’ program is 18 years

Is there a maximum group size?

We have a maximum capacity of 10 – if you have more in your group please reach out to us to enquire about how we can accommodate larger groups.

Can we dress up?

It’s always a big hit with families if one of their favourite movie characters is in the kitchen cooking! Please feel free to choose your own theme for your session if you would like to dress up.

Enquire About Participating in Dinner in a Dash or any of our programs here…

We would love to hear from you if you would like your organisation to become a valued Corporate Partner with Ronald McDonald House Central West.

Acknowledgement of Country

At Ronald McDonald House Central West we respect and acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, skies and waterways on which we gather today. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.

We celebrate the resilience and strength of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, the next generation of storytellers, Custodians and leaders. We are honoured to support and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples including families with ill or injured children, so together, we can create a brighter, healthier future for every child.

Make a Difference for Families & Children

Parents don’t know when their children will need medical help. But they should know they can always access the care they need. And with your help, we can support them all throughout their journey.