Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati is the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world with its new expansion, which opens this month. Ronald McDonald House provides free living accommodations for patient families receiving treatment at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Ronald McDonald House broke ground on the expansion in September 2018, and the nonprofit will host its grand opening—a virtual celebration—on Monday, November 30. The 7-floor addition adds 99 rooms to the Ronald McDonald House, creating a total of 177 rooms for patient families.
“Almost from the moment we opened our last expansion in 2009, we've been running a waiting list. The demand for staying at our house far exceeded the supply of rooms,” said Kristen Klein, Director of Marketing & Communications at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati. “We're hoping that the new expansion will eliminate, or at least very drastically reduce, the waitlist for the near future, so people don't have to wait weeks to get into the Ronald McDonald House.”
In addition to adding more rooms, the expansion includes several common spaces for families, including lounges and laundry facilities on every floor and expanded kitchen and dining space. Ronald McDonald House also added several different entertainment areas on the first floor with a video game room, an arts and crafts room, an active playroom with an indoor play set, and regular playrooms with toys and games.
“We tried to think of anything a family would need if they were going to be away from home for potentially months at a time and tried to put that into this space,” said Klein.
Cincinnati Children’s is the third ranked children’s hospital in the country and one of the best pediatric hospitals in the world. As a result, the medical center attracts some of the sickest patients from countries around the globe who travel here for care and need places to stay. Since many of these patients have complicated illnesses, the average stay at Cincinnati’s Ronald McDonald House is around 60 days.
The new Ronald McDonald House expansion even includes a patient protective wing for patients who are immunocompromised and need to be isolated. Only families staying in this unit, which includes its own dining space, will have access to the area to provide as much protection as possible.
Ronald McDonald House has always placed a high priority on cleanliness because of the nature of its patient families, but the COVID-19 pandemic has required even more precautions. To limit interaction, all common spaces are closed, and they have suspended their volunteer program. Instead, Ronald McDonald House delivers meals and games to families’ rooms.
Even without the volunteer program, there are still ways for people to support Ronald McDonald House and the families staying there. The nonprofit has a wish list with toys and other items that families will be able to select for the holidays. The list also includes items Ronald McDonald House needs to operate, such as cleaning products and hand sanitizer.
Anyone interested in supporting Ronald McDonald House can also participate in its Taste of Hope meals program to prepare meals for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House. The nonprofit provides lunch and dinner for its families every day, so they don’t have to worry about preparing or buying food. While the program is suspended to reduce the number of visitors to the House, there are still ways for volunteers to help support the meal program.
Ronald McDonald House is grateful for all the support it receives from the community. When the nonprofit embarked on its $50 million fundraising campaign to fund the expansion, it ended up raising $52 million. To thank the community, Ronald McDonald House incorporated homages to Cincinnati throughout the building, including naming rooms after different neighborhoods.
Ronald McDonald House will stream the grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony on its social media channels Monday, November 30 at noon. Then on Thursday, December 3 at 7 p.m., the nonprofit is hosting “The World’s Largest House Party,” a virtual celebration for the new addition that was made possible by the community.
For more information about Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Cincinnati, visit www.rmhcincinnati.org.