THE STORY OF RONALD McDONALD HOUSE

When an unlikely partnership was formed in Philadelphia in 1974 between an NFL team, a children's hospital and a restaurant chain, none of its members could have imagined that their dream of a "home-away-from-home" for families of seriously ill children would grow to become an international phenomenon. They simply wanted to create a place where parents of sick children could be with others who understood each others' situations and could provide emotional support.

The seeds of the partnership were planted when Kim Hill, the 3-year-old daughter of Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill, was diagnosed with leukemia. Hill and his wife camped out on hospital chairs and benches, ate food from fending machines and did all they could to keep Kim from seeing their sadness, exhaustion and frustration.
All around them, the Hills saw other parents doing exactly the same thing. They learned that many of the families had traveled great distances to bring their children to the medical facility; but the high cost of hotel rooms was prohibitive. They continued to think, "there has to be a happy medium."
Hill rallied the support of his teammates to raise funds to help other families experiencing the same emotional and financial traumas as his own. Through the Philadelphia Eagles' general manager, Jim Murray, the team offered its support to Dr. Audrey Evans, head of the pediatric oncology unit at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. It was Dr. Evans' dream for a house that could serve as temporary residence for families of children being treated at her hospital that led to the first Ronald McDonald House

By 1979, 10 more Ronald McDonald Houses had opened. In the next five years, local communities founded 60 more Houses; then 53 more opened in the next five years. Across the country and throughout the world, people viewed Ronald McDonald House as a way for a community to band together for their neighbors in need of comfort and security during a particularly difficult time.
Today, there are 206 Ronald McDonald Houses open in 18 countries. The Houses are supported by nearly 20,000 volunteers who annually donate over one million hours of their time. Ronald McDonald House is the cornerstone program of Ronald McDonald House Charities, a not-for-profit organization the "lifts children to a better tomorrow" by supporting Ronald McDonald Houses in communities around the world, and by making grants to other not-for-profit children's programs. To date, RMHC's national body and its global network of local Charities has awarded nearly $200 million in grants to children's programs worldwide.