CHRIS LACHALL/Courier-Post Mattie Lorenzen, 4, of Atlanta, watches as her mother, Shelly, makes up a plate of food for her at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden. The food was prepared by volunteers.

By JUDITH W. WINNE
Courier-Post Staff

As she kept watch over three pork roasts and two pork loins browning in the oven, Cynthia DiGregorio spoke about the efforts of volunteers to serve hot meals to families with sick kids at the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey.

"This is such a small thing, but it makes such a difference to them," said DiGregorio, of Collingswood. "It gives you a good feeling to be able to do something."

At the brick house on Mickle Boulevard in Camden, volunteers such as DiGregorio and her crew of colleagues from Wachovia cook and dish up buffet-style dinners for families whose youngsters are coping with health crises at area hospitals.

Separate groups from the bank come three Wednesdays a month, but other volunteers come from Campbell Soup and the ChopHouse in Gibbsboro to area Girl Scouts, too, to fill in the other days. Courses galore

The Wachovia women put out a groaning board of sliced pork, homemade gravy, canned green beans, mashed potatoes prepared from a box, and store-bought cakes, cookies and pies.

This isn't fancy food to impress. This is the kind of weekday meal your mom might serve to you or you to her.

"It's more like eating at home," said a grateful Shelly Lorenzen.

Lorenzen, 29, came from Atlanta with her 4-year-old daughter, Mattie. The blond-haired child, who looks like a young Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon, was back in the Delaware Valley for a visit at Shriners Hospital for Children after having had spinal fusion surgery. She and other families live temporarily at the McDonald house, where there are 20 rooms for guests.

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A weary Lorenzen gathered a plate for the child and sat with her in the cheery dining room. Nearby, another McDonald House resident, Karen Murray, asked what was wrong.

"I'm exhausted," said Lorenzen, who had spent hours at Shriners that day.

Soon, Lorenzen and Mattie were saying a quiet prayer over the food and Murray and her daughter-in-law, Kateri, uttered Amens.

The Murrays had come from Buffalo, N.Y., so the pregnant 26-year-old Kateri could undergo tests and possible surgery on her unborn child at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Kateri Murray talked about the blessing of not having to worry about cooking and cleaning and the easy acceptance of sharing a space with folks in similar circumstances.

"You know you've got allies and people who are familiar with your emotional state," she said.

Said Judy Godor, resident manager of the home, "It's your home away from home."

On a recent night, Joan Mintz Ulmer, the organization's development director, was attending a fund-raiser and was not at the McDonald house. But in an e-mail to a reporter, she stressed the power of meal-sharing.

"Food is one of the fundamental ways to show people that we care about them," she said. "When families come home from a stressful day at the hospital with their sick child, to walk in the door and see someone in the kitchen making dinner for you, to smell the wonderful aromas, it's a comfort."

Some volunteers stay and share dinner; others tidy up and leave. Families who arrive home late from the hospital can microwave leftovers.

Ham from dinner one day can be turned into sandwiches the next. If there are ham bones, moms or dads may make soup.

Wachovia volunteers have grilled London broil, baked meat loaf and cooked chicken in many forms and methods. They tend to avoid pasta (because other groups bring pasta) and turkey (it takes a long time to roast and not everyone is fond of the bird, which can turn out dry).

DiGregorio's husband's chili recipe was a big hit.

"It wasn't hot, but it was a little spicy," said volunteer Regina Kuhn of Moorestown. "The people in the house really seemed to enjoy it. Lots of seconds."

At the stove as the roasts finished cooking, volunteer Sharon James of Mount Ephraim stirred the gravy. Initially, she and other volunteers worried that working at a home for families of sick children "was going to be sad."

They discovered it was not.

"It's more of a place of fun and hope and good feelings," said DiGregorio, who serves on the board of the McDonald house.

Indeed, there were even chuckles in the kitchen, where volunteer Louise Capobianco of Mullica Hill joked about over-buying boxes of instant potatoes. Capobianco, it turned out, had purchased enough potatoes for about 160 servings when only about three dozen diners were expected.

Dorothy Lucca, volunteer coordinator, said groups prepare everything from hoagies to holiday-style dinners.

"They can make whatever they want," said Lucca, volunteer coordinator of her worker bees.

Of the experience, she said, "It's just awesome."

So is the McDonald house kitchen. There are two ovens, six refrigerators, two sinks, two dishwashers and two enormous center islands.

In the dining room, guests sit at tables big enough for sharing. Akram Abed, 17, and his 16-year-old sister, Siham, are students at the Charles E. Brimm Medical Arts High School in Camden. They joined a table with an Iraqi mother and her disabled son.

The teenage Abeds, both volunteers, speak Arabic and could communicate with the family.

Akram Abed said being with others, rather than isolated in a hotel room, is good for the adults and children.

"They can go out and talk to other families who are suffering with the same problems," he said. "There's common ground to build a friendship. This is what a meal time provides, time to interact with other people."

Earlier, in the kitchen, Capobianco bustled about with the other volunteers, moving to get the dinner on the table at 6 p.m., knowing hungry, tired guests were waiting.

"Everybody seems happy to have a home-cooked meal," she said.