December: Helping a Special Dad Give Back to Ronald McDonald House

Two years ago John Pealer and his wife Myrna lost their son struggle with Muscular Dystrophy while at Arnold Palmer Hospital. Since they lived in Winter Garden, and didn't have a car, getting to the hospital to visit Michael was a struggle. Fortunately they were given the opportunity to stay at the Ronald McDonald House on the Arnold Palmer Hospital campus, until Michael peacefully passed away in March of 2009. John has always been grateful for the support that Ronald McDonald house offered his family and has wanted to give back to them somehow. This is where we come in!

On December 17, John will be dressing up as Santa and delivering much needed wish list items to the Ronald McDonald House on the campus of Florida Hospital. We want Santa to have a giant bag of goodies!

We need volunteers together items from the RMH wish list!

You can do this in several ways:
1. Choose an item from the list and contact us at rchorlando@gmail.com so that we can come pick your item(s) up.

2. Host a playdate with other moms (maybe an outing to McDonald's?). Have everyone bring something from the RMH wish list and contact us at rchorlando@gmail.com, so we can pick your items up!

3. Host a holiday get together. Instead of buying "gag gifts" have friends bring an item of their choice from the wish list and...you're getting the idea...contact us for pick up!

4. Tell your friends and family about this event on your Facebook and/or Twitter pages!

5. Drop a donation directly to the Ronald McDonald House on the FL Hospital Campus. Let them know it's for the RCHO event on December 17.

6. Use our letter from RMH to approach local businesses and see if they will donate anything! E-mail us, and we'll get the letter right out to you!

7. Do you own a business? Why not be a drop off location? We would love to talk about your business as a "real charitable business" on our Facebook page!

We are looking forward to an awesome event!

Our Real Charitable Businesses

We are happy to announce that we have two great businesses that have volunteered to be drop off locations for our school supply drive. In addition, they are offering incentives for you to bring them school supplies!

Acaj Salon
903 Lake Lily Dr., Suite A101, Maitland, FL 32751
*Bring $10 worth of school supplies to the salon and receive 20% discount on your first visit! Acaj is a treatment based salon that offers complimentary moisturizing conditioning treatments.

Tijuana Flats
1955 Aloma Ave., Winter Park, FL 32792
*Bring three items from their posted list and receive a free order of chips and salsa!

If you know of other businesses in the area that would like to help with our school supply drive, please let us know! We would love to have more drop off locations around our area!

RCHO's Adopt a Student School Supply Drive

***PLEASE NOTE: This event runs for the entire month of August!***

"What's the Event?":

During the entire month of August, the Real Charitable Housewives of Orlando will be collecting ANY AND ALL kinds of school supplies and backpacks for Palmetto Elementary School in Orlando, FL. We have no set supply list...any and all school supplies of any kind are welcomed and appreciated! This is a Title I school in which 100% of the students receive free lunch. They could use all the help they can get! Now is the time to take advantage of those great Back-to-School Sales!

"What can I do to help?":

We are asking volunteers to designate themselves as pick-up or drop-off 'locations' for others and help gather as many supplies as possible.
Feel free to add this flyer and event to your wall to help promote it! Invite friends over for a Mom's Morning In (or Out) and gather supplies over coffee or at the park. Maybe have a home-based business party and invite attendees to bring some school items with them! Maybe you can hold an office-wide collection! Don't forget to get your children involved!

"I have donations! Now what?"

Post here on the Event page that you have supplies and need to arrange a pickup or feel free to email us at rchorlando@gmail.com!

***If you know of any businesses in the area that would like to designate themselves as school supply drop-off locations we would be very appreciative! ! We will announce them on our page as a Real Charitable Businesses!

YOU can help make this a great school year for some very deserving kids! Thank you for your support!
www.facebook.com/rchorland​o

RCHO Giveaway!!

The elves at the Etsy Shop "Raveled by Ryan" have been busy creating a custom RCHO bracelet! It's a ribbon crochet bracelet with some sparkly beads sewn in for "glam".

Wouldn't you love to claim this bracelet? Win it!

Required Entry:
Leave a comment below telling us about what inspires you.

Extra Entries: (remember to leave one comment per extra entry)
*Follow our blog publicly with Google Friend Connect (see the box on the left sidebar and join)

*Like RCHOrlando's page on Facebook:

*Share the giveaway link on Facebook (1x per day) and include @The Real Charitable Housewives of Orlando in your post

*Like our sister chapters on Facebook: The Real Charitable Housewives of Delaware , The Real Charitable Housewives of Seattle , The Real Charitable Housewives of Anchorage (one entry per chapter)

*Sign up for our mailing list by emailing rchovolunteers@gmail.com with your contact info

*Blog about this giveaway and leave the link

*Rules: Giveaway ends Sunday, July 24 at 10pm EST; Open to Florida residents only. RCHO board members are not eligible to win.
Disclosure: The product(s) offered for the giveaway are free of charge, no purchase necessary. This giveaway is in no way connected to or endorsed by Facebook.

July Already?

Where is the summer going? It's already almost the end of July! This month, we are supporting our friends at Guys With Ties by attending their White Party which will benefit Page 15. Page 15, among other things, offers one hour of free tutoring and homework help to any student in Orange County. They also have some amazing writing programs that they offer to Orange County Schools free of charge. If you are looking for something fun to do on Saturday, July 23, come join us!

Here is some more information on this fun event:
When: Saturday, July 23, 2011

Where: Bliss Ultra Lounge (Church Street - Downtown Orlando)

Time: 8:00pm - Midnight

Enjoy Complimentary Drinks until 10:00pm

White Stylish Attire Required! 21 & Up Only!

Admission: $20.00 (Online) or $30.00 (At Door)

Purchase Advance Tickets at: http://www.guyswithties.or​g/orlando/events

VIP Table Reservations are Available by contacting: stevem@guyswithties.org

Interested in Sponsorship Opportunities? E-mail: ryan@guyswithties.org

Interested in Volunteering and Upcoming Events, contact rbean@guyswithties.org

For more information regarding Guys With Ties Philanthropy, visit: http://www.guyswithties.or​g/

May/June Update

We've been pretty busy these past few weeks! On April 30, we participated with Palmetto Elementary School in the March for Babies at Lake Eola. We raised $1450 for babies and moms! This time, we had some little volunteers join us. It was nice for Sabrina's kids to get involved and learn about helping others in this way!

Our team!

Onesies that we got to make for our favorite RCHO babies:

UPCOMING JUNE EVENTS

Beach Cleanup with Keep Brevard Beautiful
Sunday, June 5 from 8am-12pm
Spessard Holland North Beach Park

2525 Highway A1A, Melbourne Beach
FROM US-192 (Melbourne Cswy), go south on Miramir Ave/SR-A1A 1.0 miles to the intersection with Ocean Blvd and Oak St. Go left around the curve onto Atlantic Ave and continue 2 miles. The park is on the left.

*Clean up begins at 8am, so plan to arrive a few minutes early.

*We will meet near the Keep Brevard Beautiful banner which will be near the main entrance to the park.

*If you are interested in volunteering for this event, please wear something in teal (our signature color) so that we look like a unified team. If you would like to make your own t-shirt with an iron on, pleas email us at rchovolunteers@gmail.com, and we will send you a copy of the logo you can use! Please use a white t-shirt if you plan on making one. Thank you!


Special Olympics of Seminole County Bowl-A-Thon with Team RCHO
Sunday, June 12, from 3-5pm
AMF Altamonte Lanes, 208 Douglas Ave

This is an annual event to help raise money for the athletes involved in Special Olympics Seminole County. This event allows athletes and volunteers to enjoy two hours of fun-filled bowling, including: prizes, music & lights, special guests, event t-shirt, pizza, soda, and lots more fun!

If interested in joining the RCHO team, please rsvp to Melissa at rchovolunteers@gmail.com with your t-shirt size by Thursday, June 2. Bowlers need to raise $20 to participate.

Money can be turned in when we get to the event.

Once again, we are asking participants wear teal or an RCHO T-shirt to this event so that we look like a unified team. We don't have T's printed yet, so if you'd like to make one using an iron on, please use a white t-shirt. Email Melissa at the email above for a copy of our logo!

Hope to see you at one of our June events!

Incentive Drive for Pace = Success!

Thank you to each and every one of you who helped to make our collection event for PACE a big success! We were able to collect 450 incentive items for the girls.

The breakdown is as follows:
25 books/cd/artwork
16 accessories/clothes
64 makeup items
36 jewelry items
23 picture frames/albums
11 shoes/slippers
17 knick knacks
19 hair accessories
7 stuffed animals/pillows
27 purses/bags
205 bath and body items

Wow! What an amazing collection we had in honor of Women's History Month! Look for some more fun events coming soon!

Gear for Girls Update

See the flier below about our Gear for Girls event to benefit PACE. We are no longer placing collection boxes around town, but are relying on word of mouth. If you have items to donate, please let us know at rchorlando@gmail.com and we'll be happy to come pick up whatever you have!

We Loved the Keystone Residents!

Pie is always a good excuse to get people together. Since it's National Pie month, we went to Keystone Rehab in Kissimmee to deliver some Valentine Love and delicious pies to the residents. The residents were more than happy to see us! Thank you to all of our awesome volunteers for donating your time! Special thanks goes out to Fulton's Crab House, Portobello Italian Restaurant, and Wolf Gang Puck's Cafe for donating all of the pies we needed! They were a huge hit with the residents. Special thanks also goes to Melissa Hall for stuffing goody bags, and Cindy Stavisky for doing all the leg work to get the pies! We'd also like to thank all of you who took time to create fun Valentine Cards. Store bought cards are nice, but handmade cards are super special! They were in good hands and were expertly delivered by our founder's 4 and 2 year old sons. They were more than happy to have a job to do. Enjoy the pictures below of today's event!

Gear for Girls - March Event

It's official! We will be helping PACE Center for Girls during the month of March in honor of Women's History Month. We will be placing collection boxes around town for people to donate "stuff" that girls ages 12-18 would like. PACE has a program in which the girls are able to earn points. They then have a huge auction in which the girls can use their points to bid on items. Here is how you can help:

-Own a business? Host a box for us and tell your customers what it's all about!
-Ask a few favorite businesses to host a box
-Donate something a girl, age 12-18 would like to have (doesn't have to be new)
-Volunteer your time to pick up and drop off boxes at predetermined locations

If interested, give us a shout at rchorlando@ocps.net

Thinking Ahead to April...

While we hammer out more details for our March event, we wanted to let everyone know that we will be walking for March of Dimes in the March for Babies event. This three mile walk around beautiful Lake Eola here in downtown Orlando will take place on April 30th at 7:30am. We are walking in honor of our friend Angela Michael's baby girl, Hannah, who was born about three months too soon.

If you are unable to walk but would like to help us, please consider making a donation to one of our team members. The link to sign up for the walk, or to donate to our team is:

http://www.marchforbabies.org/s_team_page.asp?seid=1517273

Mark your calendars! Hope to see you there! As my friend Jill, the founder of the Delaware Housewives likes to say, "there is strength in VOLUNTEER numbers" :)

February 2011 Event

You know that February is the month of love...but did you also know it's American Pie Month?

In honor of love, and love of pies, we will be serving up pie to the residents of Keystone Rehab on February 12, 2011 starting at 10am. Keystone Rehab is located at 1120 W. Donegan Ave. in Kissimmee.

We are in need of (for 45 residents):
-pies to serve (half of which need to be sugar free)
-volunteers to serve pie and mingle with residents
-valentine cards (homemade ones are nice)
-possible Valentine goody bags

If you are interested in helping us, please shoot us an email at rchorlando@gmail.com and let us know how you would like to help! We will get back to you with further details.

Thank you for considering joining us for this event! The residents are sure to feel the love!

Polar Plunge Inaugural Event = Big Success!

What an amazing day it was yesterday!  RCHO participated in the Polar Plunge at Aquatica to benefit Special Olympics.  We had a group of 9 who raised $950 in just two weeks!   This was the second year Aquatica hosted this event for Special Olympics. $190,000 was raised by about 500 people. Amazing! Kudos to everyone who donated and to all who were brave enough to take the plunge!

Our facebook following continues to grow! We are up to 77 followers which is just awesome! We would like everyone to know that we are a group that thrives on its fans and followers!  We need each and every one of you to reach out and help when you see an event that interests you! 

Stay tuned!  There are many awesome events in the works. 

In the meantime, please enjoy these photos and video from yesterday's plunge!

Our 9 plungers about to run into the icy water!

Nice group shot of our plungers!

Nice video by centralfloridatop5.com