'Home away from home': Hospital patients and families far from home share Thanksgiving dinner

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Thanksgiving is a time for families and friends to come together.

However, for some experiencing critical illnesses, that's not always possible.

"Home away from home," that's how many say they feel staying at Kathy's House.

To really make it feel like home during the holiday, a dozen volunteers served their guests a hot Thanksgiving dinner.

"They're dealing with so much stress with the day-to-day of heading to the hospital, caring for someone they love," Kim Lamansky, president and CEO of Kathy's House explained.

Kathy's House is a nonprofit hospital guest house for people who need to travel to Milwaukee for their loved one's medical care.

"We are able to give them a little bit of rest and have a nice, wonderful meal. It gives them the opportunity to celebrate the little things," said Lamansky.

For the Gruender family, this is their second visit to Kathy's House, but their first holiday away from their home.

"Obviously, we would rather be home all together as a family, but we are thankful and blessed to be together as a family the best we can," said Brian Gruender, guest at Kathy's House.

Gruender says they have found a new kind of family through these tough times.

"It's oddly therapeutic to be around people that really understand even though those diagnoses are different you all have this underlying understanding of what you're going through and the sacrifices that need to be made," Gruender explained.

As for their daughter, currently recovering at Froedtert...

"Tonight, we are bringing her pumpkin pie," said Laura Gruender.