This Ronald McDonald House volunteer has a heart for helping
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- On Thursday, we'll present our 13th annual Ronald McDonald House Charities Telethon. We call it "Give a little love" and we'll be raising money to help the four Ronald McDonald Houses in the Philly area.
Every summer, your donations help send children with cancer to the Ronald McDonald camp.
One camp volunteer loves spending time with the children so much that he has Ronald McDonald House logos on his race car.
"This is something that's near and dear to my heart," Tony DeCarlo said.
DeCarlo has a heart for helping the Ronald McDonald House on and off the race track. On the track, DeCarlo is behind the wheel for the "Ferrari Challenge Series," a racing circuit with fans all over the world.
"It's fun, it's incredibly mentally demanding," DeCarlo said.
And there's no mistaking who DeCarlo is rooting for every time he whips around the track. There for the world to see: logos for the Ronald McDonald House.
"It's an added pressure to try to do well because you don't want to be the worst on the track representing somebody, but obviously we don't charge a sponsorship fee for that," DeCarlo said. "I just feel it's a little thing we can do, whatever helps so it's just one more thing I can do."
One more thing in a three-decades-long commitment to the house and the children.
DeCarlo has been involved in the Ronald McDonald Summer Camp for more than 30 years.
The camp is held every August in the Pocono Mountains. It's where children with cancer can spend a week of fun and friendship and freedom from being different.
"The first couple of years we kind of planned the camp when we got there and it's gotten a lot more sophisticated over time and as years went on, I was really more of the person who just jumped in and helped," DeCarlo said. "I am just amazed at how much the kids look forward to coming that one week. It's probably the most important week of my year, hands down. And I feel bad because I think I get more out of it than I put into it to see these kids, as normal as they could be with what they've been through, it's just awesome."
And this is awesome as well.
Imagine the excitement of the children at the Philadelphia house when DeCarlo walked wearing his racing suit.
He quickly found himself playing with some much smaller wheels. DeCarlo says his involvement with the Ronald McDonald House has changed his outlook on life.
"When you go back to the real world it makes you a little bit less tolerant of people complaining about the most ridiculous things," DeCarlo said. "I can't tell you how much I owe to the camp for what it's done for my life, I just want to thank everybody involved."
The Ronald McDonald House is truly a home away from home for so many families. Please give A little love by making a donation.
Our telethon is on Thursday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on CBS3.
CBS3's Don Bell reports
