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.