Last week we heard of the outstanding work being done by the Ronald McDonald Houses, both locally and nationally. For nearly 40 years, the charity has provided housing and meals for families of sick children.  The charity does not rely on government funding or contributions from the McDonald Corporation, but instead gets its funding from contributions of the individual restaurant owners, donations by customers, and other donations.  Currently, there is a short waiting list for the services, which typically last several weeks while kids are undergoing treatment.  In our area, similar services are performed by the Fisher House at NIH, for kids involved in clinical trials at NIH.

The stations, built as a testament to Stalinism, offer marble walls, high ceilings, stained glass, mosaics and chandeliers. The Moscow metro is one of the most extensive and heavily traveled subway systems in the world, transporting about 9 million people around the city each day. But it also serves as a sort of museum of Russian history. Opened in 1935, the marble walls, high ceilings, stained glass, mosaics and chandeliers were a testament to the values of Joseph Stalin and his Communist party. Ironically enough, while the stations were built and designed with Soviet labor, the main engineering work was done by British workers. Stalin ordered the arrest of many British engineers on the project for espionage, because they had gained so much inside knowledge about the city’s subway system. The engineers were eventually deported and whatever business climate existed between the two countries was effectively killed. The system is currently under expansion, and is expected to grow an additional 90 miles by 2020. That would make it the third largest d world, behind Beijing and Shanghai.