The Ronald McDonald House

We’ve been staying at the Ronald McDonald House of Durham for six weeks today. When I checked in just a few hours before Noah’s birth, I agreed that we would give a $10/day donation if we could afford to. It costs the Ronald McDonald House of Durham approximately $52/day to furnish that room to us. If we can’t afford to pay the $10/day when we check out, Maria and I will continue to donate to the Ronald McDonald House as we can over time. In fact, I’ve been giving the Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Carolina $10 out of each of my pay checks through the Combined Federal Campaign for three years. It was three years ago that my sister and brother-in-law were fortunate enough to be able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House in Greenville, NC, while their premature baby girl grew in the hospital. So, my family has been twice blessed with being able to stay at a Ronald McDonald House.

I can talk all day about what a wonderful charity the Ronald McDonald House is. Providing a room to families of children staying in the hospital is their mission, but it goes way beyond that. Almost every day, guests of the Ronald McDonald House eat meals provided by different individuals and community organizations who want to help out. There are individuals and groups that come in to keep the house clean and comfortable. There are others who come in to do activities with the kids. The best thing about the House, though, is the bonds that are created there. We have grown close to many of the other guests, with which we have little in common. We all do have something in common, though, and that is the catalyst to making friends. The House then provides an environment which family-like kinships can grow in.

Here are a few interesting statistics about the Ronald McDonald House of Durham from the time they opened their doors in 1980 through 2005:

31,000 families have stayed there;

Those families were from every county in NC, 43 states, and 19 foreign countries;

The average stay was 11 days and the mean stay since the transplant suites opened was seven weeks;

The longest stay was 18.5 months;

The family traveling farthest to stay there was from Novosibirsk, Russia;

The average occupancy rate was 97.5%!!!

The House has 18 guest rooms and five transplant suites, but a new Ronald McDonald House of Durham is being constructed which will more than double the number of rooms.

The next time you’re looking for a charity to give to, please consider the Ronald McDonald House.