RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A second Ronald McDonald House has opened in the City of Richmond.
The new site, located inside the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, will offer families a place to stay and various amenities while their children undergo treatment.
“85% of the families we’ll serve here will be from the local Richmond area,” said Kerry Blumberg, CEO of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond, “they don’t want to leave to go home, they just want to be steps away from their child.
The 3,285 square-foot house offers dining and lounging areas, four Family Sleep Rooms, a children’s play area and an outdoor area.
Families can stay overnight up to three nights at a time — however, any family with a patient can use the amenities in the home.
“This space, designed for families, allows them to get authentic in their emotions, release some of the stress that they have so they can show up bedside as the best caregiver they can be,” Blumberg said.
The new site comes as an addition to the existing Ronald McDonald House on Monument Avenue, serving multiple pediatric hospitals and therapy programs across the city, providing families with nine nights of overnight stay.
Blumberg tells 8News the grand opening of the new Ronald McDonald House is a dream come true, allowing the organization to help more families stay near their children during stressful moments.
Each year, the Ronald McDonald House Charities saves families more than $504 million in lodging and meal expenses while providing more than 1.5 million overnight stays each year.
The effort is to ensure no family endures their child’s medical crisis alone.
