Teen leads charity drive
Thursday, November 13, 2003
By MICHAEL T. BURKHART
Courier-Post Staff
MEDFORD
A newsletter showed up at the Mackey home this fall from the Ronald McDonald House in Camden, telling the family it always needs things like paper goods, canned foods and cleaning supplies.
Fifteen-year-old Brian Mackey decided that instead of just donating a few of the items he would organize a drive in his neighborhood.
"I wasn't expecting a whole lot," said Brian, a sophomore at Lenape Regional High School who is visually impaired and uses a cane to get around. "But I was surprised when we got as much as we did."
The Lenape High School sophomore wound up with a room full of goods for the nonprofit agency, which provides a place for families to stay near hospitals when their children are hospitalized.
Brian and his family know firsthand the importance of the organization. Mackey's older sister was born with heart defects and they stayed at a Ronald McDonald House in Illinois when she was hospitalized there.
"It's a great place to have a refuge," said Brian's mother, Linda.
"It gave us a place to meet with other parents," said Brian's father, Norman.
Meghan Mackey was 9 when she died in 1996. A year later, the family moved to their Medford home and soon after they began volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden.
Donations began pouring in to Brian's collection drive just after Halloween, when Brian distributed about 60 promotional fliers.
"He decided that rather than collect candy on Halloween, he could collect items for the Ronald McDonald House," his mother said. "I think it's pretty remarkable."
"The stuff started coming in," she said. "It took up a lot of room in our dining room. The trunk of the car was packed to the gills."
Brian collected toothpaste, a cookie jar, popcorn, canned goods and cake mix, toilet paper, and much more.
"They were things (Ronald McDonald House) really needed," Brian said. "We knew that the families needed help."
The Ronald McDonald House keeps a "wish list" of household items people can pick up while they're at the grocery store and donate, said Teddy Thomas, executive director.
While Linda Mackey is proud of her son's donation drive efforts, Brian also excels in other areas. Though legally blind, he has earned a brown belt in karate and he also is learning how to play golf and chess.
Reach Michael T. Burkhart at (856) 486-2474 or
PARIS L. GRAY/Courier-Post
Brian Mackey, 15, (right) of Medford sorts and packs some of the donations he collected for Ronald McDonald House in Camden. Helping him are his mother, Linda, (left) and a friend, Joey Bigelow of Medford.