A $3-million fundraising campaign has been launched to help build a new Ronald McDonald House in Halifax.
The house provides a home away from home for Maritime families travelling to Halifax for hospital care.
Leslie McLean, co-chair of the fundraising campaign, said the new space will double the number of families they can support.
“In recent years, the requests from families has far surpassed the size of the house that we have,” said McLean. “In fact, we’ve had to turn away one in three families, which has been devastating.”
The Ronald McDonald House will go from supporting up to 18 families a night to 36 families. That works out to more than 1,200 families per year.
Forty-two per cent of families staying at Ronald McDonald House come from New Brunswick, 36 per cent come from Nova Scotia, and 13 per cent from Prince Edward Island.
Bretton Bannister and his family have used the Ronald McDonald House. Bannister, who lives in P.E.I., was diagnosed with congenital heart disease at six months old.
“I just remember playing video games with my brother, colouring with all the other kids there and just having a really good time before this surgery, which wasn’t one of the best things,” said Bannister.
Lori Barker, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities Atlantic, said the new house will be located right across the street from the IWK Health Centre.
Barker said the new home will also be fully accessible, which is a major limitation in their current 100-year-old house.
“We’ll also have so much more space for families to enjoy their meals, programming, and quality time together,” she said. “In addition, we will have spaces to support children with seriously compromised immune systems.”
More than 20,000 families have been able to use Ronald McDonald House since it first opened in 1982.
A total of $21 million has already been secured for the $24-million project, including $1 million from the McCain Foundation.
Construction is expected to begin this summer and officials hope the new house will open in 2022 — just in time for their 40th anniversary.
To our RMHC families, supporters, and everyone across our RMHC Atlantic "family", thank you!
We're thrilled with the response to yesterday's announcement, and, we've got LOADS of exciting updates to share in the weeks to come. We're just getting started!#KeepingFamiliesClose pic.twitter.com/QkUWNNxsZg
— RMHC Atlantic / l’OMRM Atlantique (@RMHCAtlantic) February 24, 2021
