Local restaurant and community raise funds for vandalized windows

Six families temporarily staying at the Ronald McDonald House found their cars broken into early Saturday morning. Although nothing was stolen, as far as the families could tell, the perpetrator destroyed several car windows in the process. 

The Ronald McDonald House, located off Forsyth Street near the medical center, provides a place to stay along with support for families with children who are sick, injured, or require constant medical attention in Middle Georgia. 

RMH took to Facebook to not only help identify the culprit, but to also ask for donations to help pay for the windows of families affected.

Patty Gibbs, the president and CEO of the Ronald McDonald House, said she was initially heartbroken knowing that many of these families didn’t plan on being here to care for their sick or injured children.

“Most of our families are not from Bibb county,” Gibbs said. “This isn’t the impression we want them to have of Macon.”

Saralyn Collins, owner of the restaurant Grow on Riverside Drive, said she saw RMH Facebook post and decided to run a fundraiser to help out.

She wrote that they raised $1,500 by selling 50 trays of lasagna. The lasagna cost $40,  $30 of each lasagna sold going toward paying for the windows needed to be replaced.

June O’Neal recruited her friend Jared Cain, to repair the windows free of charge. She said Collins is her fellow “Wesleyan sister,” and with these families staying with sick children, paying for the windows was the least they could do.

“Macon is a caring community,” she said. “Everyone does … whatever they can do, whether it was making a contribution or ordering a casserole.”

The post generated a lot of support, and so far all the windows are set to be replaced by the end of the week.

“It’s amazing but I’m not surprised,” Gibbs said. “I think that our Central Georgia community has a heart for families, a heart for children and just a heart for this community.”