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Sarah Ferguson
The Duchess of York
By Melinda Copp
Ferguson's latest charitable endeavor was an intercontinental tour with the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) for the fifth World Children's Day. Each November, over 100 countries participate in World Children's Day by hosting fundraising events and activities in McDonald's restaurants. McDonald's Corporation and its owners, operators, suppliers and customers around the world have raised nearly $75 million for the RMHC over the program's first four years.
In October, the Duchess was named global ambassador for World Children's Day at McDonald's for the second year. And she spent the month of November traveling across the United States, and to China and Japan, to raise money and awareness for critical children's issues.
"I think Ronald McDonald House Charities provides an extraordinary service to seriously ill children and their families, which is why I am delighted to support the organization and World Children's Day," Ferguson says. She made stops in Tokyo, Seattle, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Boston, New York and Beijing, participating in press events, galas and concerts. She met with community leaders and celebrities, including 14-time Grammy Award winner David Foster, Emmitt Smith and Beyonce Knowles. But her favorite part of the tour was the time she spent meeting families and patients, and hanging out with kids.
"It was an incredible tour across the United States and then on to Japan and China," Ferguson says. "The greatest moments of all were those spent with the children in each city. I was so moved by their incredible courage and spirit."
Ferguson helped children at the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle trace their hands and write what they are thankful for inside the handprint. Local artists are going to incorporate the handprints into works of art to display at McDonald's restaurants throughout Western Washington. And the art will later be auctioned to benefit the local RMCH chapter. She delivered special gifts to children in a Dallas/Fort Worth area hospital, and visited an orphanage in Beijing. And she helped kids in Detroit create plaster molds of their hands, which will later be framed and displayed at the local Ronald McDonald House.
