Eastside Connections students in Katherine Lace’s fifth-grade class were wearing red-and-white striped knee-high socks as they sat in a circle Wednesday.

The local chapter of the Ronald McDonald House Charities provided the colorful footwear for the students as a way of celebrating the non-profit organization’s 40th anniversary.

“The red and white stripes is our new symbol for the charity,” said Kellie Montgomery, volunteer coordinator of the RMHC’s family room at South Bend Memorial Hospital. “Our hope is that when you see the red and white stripes, you think of Ronald McDonald House Charities.”

Montgomery paid a special visit to Eastside Connections, where her niece attends school. There, she accepted a large jar of change students had been filling for RMHC, which serves nearly 9 million families a year through family-centered programs in more than 58 countries and regions.

RMHC receives a majority of funding through donations made in change boxes at local McDonald’s restaurants. The local chapter of RMHC includes Northern Indiana and Southwest Michigan.

Montgomery said 75 percent of each dollar stays local, while the remaining 25 percent goes to RMHC’s global programs.

Locally, funding goes to the South Bend Memorial Hospital RMHC family room, a place where parents can stay and eat free of charge while their child is in the hospital.

The room includes three overnight rooms, a nap room, televisions, laundry and meals.

“The hospital takes care of the patients, but no one takes care of the parents,” Montgomery said. “That’s what we do.”

In addition to visiting Eastside Connections, Montgomery traveled to McDonald’s locations in Edwardsburg, Cassopolis and Dowagiac to hand out red and white striped items and other gifts to employees and customers for the “Day of Change.”

Montgomery said the local chapter collects approximately $100,000 from the change boxes annualy.

“It is huge because we couldn’t operate without donations from the community,” she said. “It is vital that we continue to get these donations from the community and their continued support.”

Montgomery said RMHC estimates it saves families around $649 million in meal and lodging expenses worldwide through its programs.

The family room at South Bend Memorial is staffed year round. Anyone interested in volunteering, or purchasing a pair of socks, can contact Montgomery at kmontgomery@mhcmichiana.org or (574) 647-7711.