Most people associate Ronald McDonald’s red and white painted face and baggy clothes with fast food and Big Macs. But for the region’s children and families in need, the popular clown means something else entirely: help when it is needed most.
Ronald McDonald House charities provide a place to stay and specialized support services for families of seriously ill or injured children under treatment at local hospitals.
“I don’t know what I would have done without Ronald McDonald House,” said Rebecca Offutt. Her son Joseph was seriously injured in an accident near Martinsburg, W.Va., and was flown to Inova Hospital in Fairfax for treatment. The Ronald McDonald House near Inova provided Offutt with room and board so she could stay near the hospital and her son.
The houses feature guest rooms, well-stocked kitchens, dining areas, living rooms, play areas for children and laundry facilities. Volunteers cook meals, do yard work, answer phones, prepare rooms and work to raise money. This year the staff even provided home-cooked meals for Christmas.
“The hospital also has a service that picks me up and brings me to the house 24-7, and I can call them when there is a change in my son’s condition, even if it is in the middle of the night,” Offutt said.
“They are there around the clock to provide mutual support and to help you,” she said — all for a token payment of $10 a day.
So many families need these services that a new fundraising effort is underway to pay for an expanded D.C. facility.
There are two Ronald McDonald Houses in the National Capital region, and the facility near Children’s National Medical Center is in serious need of an upgrade. The house, built in 1912, is too small to meet demand and has plumping and wiring that are increasingly expensive to maintain.
More than $5 million is needed to build a larger facility, said Debbie Wargo, executive director of Ronald McDonald House charities, and a fundraising campaign has begun to raise the cash.
“We are hoping to break ground this year,” Wargo told The Examiner.
“We have partnered with Hexagon — a local theatrical review that has supported regional charities for more than 51 years — in a gala fundraiser on March 4 at the Willard Hotel,” she explained. Beyond that, Wargo said her charity was also pursuing a number of other projects, all of which are expected to raise the needed cash, cash they have very clear plans for.
“We have a design team working on our new building, and we have a good idea of what we will need to serve our guests for years to come.”
Have information about area nonprofits? Contact Frank Sietzen at [email protected].
