Every Wednesday morning at Dickerson Middle School, sixth-grade English teacher Sunny Williams gathers a group of tweens and puts them on a simple but important mission: do good.
Williams started the “Pay It Forward” club at the school eight years ago, hoping to inspire her students to make community service an integral and consistent part of their lives.
Credit: Annie Mayne
Credit: Annie Mayne
As a Dickerson graduate herself, Williams said she knows how much the east Cobb community had to give back.
“Our kids have a lot. I grew up here, so I know the kind of community we live in,” Williams said. “I wanted them to see the value in giving back.”
The Atlanta Ronald McDonald House
The club practices service in a host of ways: creating custom signs for teachers’ birthdays, having previously donated to Relay for Life, and — most impactfully — working closely with Atlanta’s Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The Ronald McDonald House serves families of children with chronic illnesses, most often cancer, giving them a place to stay and support in an incredibly difficult time.
In Atlanta, families who have to travel more than 50 miles to access their children’s treatment are eligible to stay in one of two houses: one near the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta — Scottish Rite Hospital campus and the other by the Egleston campus.
Tracey Atwater, president of the Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities, said over 3,000 families are served each year between the two houses and hotels, for those needing shorter-term stay.
It costs the Ronald McDonald House roughly $160 to house a family per night. But those receiving the services don’t pay a dime.
The Ronald McDonald Houses offer families close shelter to their sick children, food made by a full-time chef and, Atwater said, the ability to forge bonds with others who understand their difficult situations.
“Think about these people coming from a small town, perhaps in south Georgia. They might be the only parents with a child with cancer,” Atwater said. “To be there with other parents that understand what you’re going through, and to build those friendships, those resources, even after you leave the house, is so powerful.”
Support from students
Williams and the roughly two dozen students who show up every week to participate in the Pay It Forward club help the Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities in many ways.
They organize spirit days where students can donate to the charity to participate, collect soda caps as part of a recycling program that earns cash, make toiletry bags for families to use in the house or the hospital, run a Christmas drive collecting gifts for the children, sponsor a room in one of the houses, and, every year, raise between $8,000 and $10,000 for the organization.
Credit: Annie Mayne
Credit: Annie Mayne
The Pay It Forward club’s efforts don’t go unnoticed by those running the Atlanta Ronald McDonald Houses or those benefiting from their services.
That includes Jennifer Mire, an eighth-grade teacher at Dickerson whose son, Luc, was diagnosed with leukemia in May 2021.
Since the Mires live within 50 miles of the hospital, they weren’t eligible to stay in one of the homes. But they often found themselves in the family room sponsored by the organization at Scottish Rite.
“I really don’t know what I would have done without the Ronald McDonald family room down there,” Mire said. “It was everything from being able to grab him a pack of gummies to a safe place I could go to show emotion or relax or take a deep breath and regather myself to go back in there with him. … Thank God for that room.”
Luc was officially considered off-treatment as of September 2023. He graduated from Lassiter High School, and is now a freshman at Kennesaw State University.
“It means so much to see all the care and the giving back that this school does and know that we were a very small part from benefiting from that,” Mire said. “It’s a fantastic charity organization and I’m so glad our school has adopted it.”
That adoption, Mire said, is thanks to Williams.
“She’s the most giving, caring person I’ve ever met in my entire life,” Mire said of her colleague.
Credit: Annie Mayne
Credit: Annie Mayne
Fueled by volunteers
Brie Bergman, digital content coordinator for the Ronald McDonald House, said Williams and the support that all the charities’ volunteers provide is invaluable.
“We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without our volunteers. It’s understated how much it’s helpful, how much it’s appreciated. Whether it’s toiletry kit donations, coming in and cooking a meal, coming in and hosting a bingo night, whatever, anything goes a long way,” Bergman said. “We’re fueled by volunteers.”
But to Williams, who dedicates every Wednesday morning and many of her weekends to the organization, it seems to come naturally.
“It’s not hard to volunteer,” Williams said. “It’s not hard to serve people.”
The Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities welcomes volunteers. For information about how to get involved with the organization, visit www.armhc.org/ways-to-help.
Credit: Marietta Daily Journal
Credit: Marietta Daily Journal
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