April Dowd and her driver Bill this morning delivered the first batch of non-perishable food donations to  the Ronald McDonald House complex in Albany. And, that was only the beginning.

April is heading up a food drive through September 8 for the family residence facility where heavy recent use has pretty much stripped the shelves bare of the sorts of food items families can turn to.

Fresh foods are not a problem because of the steady stream of volunteer cooks working in the RMH kitchen, but guests often have very long days at Albany Medical Center, missing regular mealtimes and needing sustenance often at odd hours.

Here is the suggested shopping list RMH provided. You can bring your donations to any of our club events through September 8 or, if it’s the only way we can get them, we’ll schedule a time to come to you to collect the food items.

• Jell-O Cups
• Pudding Cups
• Individual Cracker & Cookie Snacks
• Individual Chips and Pretzel Snacks
• Cereal Cups
• Apple Sauce Cups
• Ramen Noodle Cups
• Microwave Meals (non-frozen kind)
• Microwave Popcorn
• Easy Mac&Cheese Cups
• Granola Bars
• Nuts & Dried Fruit Packs
• Healthy Snacks
• Grocery Gift Cards
• Stewart’s Gift Cards
• Amazon Gift Cards

Thanks, as always, for your ongoing generosity to those in need.