There are several ways you can help the Rosenbaum Family House.
There are several ways you can help the Rosenbaum Family House.
Rosenbaum Family House is always in need of all the items that you use when you’re at home. Since it’s our team’s goal to make our guests feel at home, everyday items are critical and crucial to our services and their stay. You can browse our wish list on Amazon and have items shipped directly to us. Follow us on Facebook to view our weekly immediate needs on our #WishlistWednesday posts.
Guests of the Family House are far from home and truly appreciate an evening meal, either homemade or from a restaurant. These meals provide a taste of home and an opportunity for fellowship. We ask those interested in helping with this service to provide a meal for 40-45 WVU Medicine and Family House guests by either using our kitchen to prepare the meal or bringing already prepared food in to serve.
Click here to view our printable Dinner Group Guidelines.
Everyone preparing food should use appropriate hygiene practices and be free of any contagious illness. Remind all chefs to wash hands thoroughly.
Food safety gloves are required when preparing food and preferred when serving. While you are welcome to bring in your own gloves, gloves are also available in the Family House kitchens.
Click here for additional information from the FDA.
For sample recipes that feed a crowd follow the links below:
Hearty Beef and Vegetable Soup
Our facility is located across the street from WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital and between the Ronald McDonald House and the WVU football stadium.
To get to Family House from University Avenue, turn onto Inglewood Drive, come to the bottom of the hill, and make a right. Turn right in front of the Ronald McDonald House.
You may pull right in front of the main doors to unload. If you need carts, please either call ahead, or see our front desk staff when you arrive. Once unloaded, please get a parking pass, and park anywhere in the lot in front of the House. Please advise all with your group to get parking passes.
Dinner is served in our third floor lounge. There are two kitchens in which your group can work. Buffet tables can be set up for your meal by request. Please feel free to use the bar that adjoins the kitchen to set up for food items. We request you bring plates, napkins, and cutlery with you. If you are not able to do so, please let us know ahead of time so we can provide those items. Our kitchens are fully stocked, and you are welcome to use whatever you may need in preparing your meal.
Tables and chairs are available on the deck outside for a picnic-style dinner, if the weather permits.
We ask that you stay and interact with our guests as well as clean up once dinner is finished. Please wipe off the stoves and the counters in the kitchen areas. If you have used any kitchenware, please place all of the items in our dishwasher and start the cycle. We are required by the local health department to wash everything in our dishwasher and not wash items by hand.
We have foil, disposable pans, and plastic storage containers for any leftovers. We ask that you label any leftover food as "help yourself" and place it in the help yourself refrigerator. Labels are provided. Some of our families are at the hospital during dinnertime, but they come back to the House later in the evening and are often hungry and very tired. Any leftovers from the dinner will not go to waste.
Styrofoam plates, cold drink cups, hot drink cups, plastic cutlery, drinks of any kind, and desserts of any kind are things we always need. We appreciate you bringing some or all of these supplies/food items when you come to prepare your meal for our families.
Although most groups prefer to prepare dinners on weeknights, meals for our families can be served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We are currently open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Weekday dinners are normally served at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., and weekend dinners are usually at 4 p.m. We can be flexible with dates and times to accommodate your group's schedule.
Visitors must have a key to gain access to the kitchens and lounges. We ask that the first person to arrive from your group stop by the administrative office to get a key to use while you are here preparing a meal. Please remember to return it when you leave.
There is a public restroom outside the lounge for use by members of your group while you are here, and restrooms are located on the first floor across from the elevators.
Please keep in mind that we have an average-sized kitchen in the event you have a large group planning to come. Try to limit your prep team and your cooks to 5 or 6 people. The other volunteers can be assigned to other duties such as entertainment, servers or the clean-up crew. You may want to stagger the times people are to arrive. We do have a piano in the lounge if any of your group plays, or feel free to bring other instruments and entertain our guests while they eat.
While you are here, feel free to join our guests in the lounges to share in food and / or conversation. Our guests enjoy the company and appreciate what your group or organization has done for them.
Day-to-day volunteers are assigned to the Rosenbaum Family House through the Volunteer Services Department at WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital.
Volunteer opportunities are also open to WVU students through the University’s iServe portal.
iServe (WVU Students Only)