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Causes: Health, Patient & Family Support
Mission: The primary exempt purpose is to provide comfort and care for families of children who must travel outside their own community to seek medical treatment in Roanoke Valley hospitals. The organization provides a house that offers families a refuge from the hospital - a room of their own with a bath, shared kitchen, laundry facilities and play area for children.
Programs: The Ronald McDonald house provides temporary lodging for the families of critically and seriously ill children who must leave their home communities to undergo specialized medical treatment in the Roanoke Valley. The eighteen-bedroom house welcomes over 700 families each year from at least 25 miles away. Each family is provided a private bedroom and bathroom, food, and laundry facilities. Volunteers prepare and serve a hot meal every evening. In addition to over 5,000 dinner meals served, families can prepare their own breakfasts, lunches, and snacks in a separate kitchen using food purchased by donations or donated by hundreds of individuals and groups. The house also provides free laundry facilities, a toy room, a playground, and a computer with internet access for families. The house asks for a nominal donation of $15 a night per family, but no one is turned away for the inability to pay. The house is also an approved lodging facility for families covered by medicaid. The average house stay is approximately 8 nights. Over 150 volunteers provided approximately 4,000 hours of donated work in the house and on its grounds.
The Ronald McDonald Family Room, located within Carilion Clinic Children's Hospital, is an adult respite room available for family members and guests of pediatric patients. The family room provides comfortable seating, complimentary snacks and refreshments, a kitchen with a refrigerator and microwave, computers with internet access, as well as a quiet space to make phone calls. The family room is staffed totally by volunteers from 9am to 9pm 7 days a week. In 2014 volunteers donated 2,800 hours of service, providing for 4,700 family visits.