Our History
Serving families every day since April 15, 1980 with your support.
Serving families every day since April 15, 1980 with your support.
When Kim Hill, the three-year-old daughter of Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill, was diagnosed with leukemia, Hill and his wife experienced the hardship of having a child in the hospital. They learned that many of the families in the hospital with them 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 better way.”
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 of a house that could serve as a temporary residence for families of children being treated at her hospital that led to the first Ronald McDonald House.
In 1977 in Richmond, a group of parents, representatives of the Association for the Study of Childhood Cancer, medical doctors at MCV, and McDonald’s Owner/Operators launched a letter-writing campaign to the McDonald’s Children’s Charities for a Ronald McDonald House in Richmond to serve the Medical College of Virginia. Later that year, they received approval to open Richmond’s very own Ronald McDonald House.
The current site was purchased in September 1978 by the Richmond McDonald’s Owner/Operators Cooperative who agreed to pay the mortgage in full. Renovation on the House began in 1979 and lasted fifteen months. Everything was donated: the goods, the materials, and the labor.
The day it opened, the Ronald McDonald House was named the “Miracle on Monument Avenue.” It is that and more. Like the rest of its sister houses throughout the world, it is truly the House that Love Built. Throughout the years, Ronald McDonald House Richmond has expanded its programs to serve families from all of the hospitals and medical facilities in the Greater Richmond area.
The first Ronald McDonald Family Room opened at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. The Family Room consisted of three sleeping rooms, located just down the hall from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
Ronald McDonald House Richmond opened a Ronald McDonald Family Room at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital with two sleeping rooms and a kitchen.
Ronald McDonald House Richmond received an anonymous donation to support the renovation of the kitchen at the Ronald McDonald House. The donation was given in honor of eight-year-old Beckhem Gemerek and his bravery and courage as he recovered from an emergency surgery to remove a brain tumor.
Ronald McDonald House Richmond launched Hospitality Carts, a new program featuring a hospitality cart that is pushed through the pediatric floors of the hospital.
We expanded our Hospitality Cart program, launched Lunches with Love – a new meal delivery program to pediatric and neonatal units – and opened the doors to the new Ronald McDonald House Sibling Center in the Children’s Pavilion of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
After a successful $1.5M capital campaign, Ronald McDonald House Richmond opened a second Ronald McDonald House inside Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. At 3,285 square feet, the facility features four Sleep Rooms, a kitchen, laundry facilities, common areas, a playroom and an outdoor patio.
We held the grand opening of the first HCA facility and Ronald McDonald House Richmond programs south of the James River. HCA Virginia Johnston-Willis Hospital now houses our newest Ronald McDonald Family Room and Hospitality Cart, located in the hospital’s the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We additionally expanded our south side presence by opening our Hospitality Kiosk at Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center in the hospital’s NICU.
Ronald McDonald House Richmond publicly announced its $40 million Together, Hope is Closer capital campaign to build a 50-bedroom Ronald McDonald House. This monumental project will more than triple the total number of families in medical crisis Ronald McDonald House Richmond serves. Learn more.