About us
Our History
Ronald McDonald House Charities was born out of the unlikely partnership of Dr Audrey Evans, an oncologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, McDonald’s and the American Football team, the Philadelphia Eagles.
A player for the Philadelphia Eagles, had a daughter suffering from leukaemia, which prompted the team to raise in excess of $100,000 dollars to support the hospital. Dr Evans and her team were extremely grateful and shared her need for another $32,000 to fund the build of a house where families of the children in the hospital could get proper rest, away from the ward.
McDonald’s were using the Eagles' players as part of an advertising campaign and offered to donate the proceeds from sales of their 'shamrock shake' to help build the House and asked that the House be known as the Ronald McDonald House; and on 15 October 1974, the first Ronald McDonald House opened its doors in Philadelphia, USA. From this date Ronald McDonald House Charities has spread across the world, forming new and independent branches in over 50 regions and countries.
In 1989, Ronald McDonald House Charities was established as an independent charity in the UK. Our Houses not only provide families with accommodation, but with a space where they can rest, cook and take time out from the hospital, so they can continue to stay strong for their child. Children that require specialist medical care often have to travel long distances to receive treatment. Our Houses are located next to specialist children’s hospitals; there are currently 15 Ronald McDonald Houses here in the UK, 12 of which form the RMHC UK Estate.
About Ronald McDonald House Charities UK
The Charity has been supporting families with children in hospital for 30 years here in the UK. We currently have 11 Ronald McDonald Houses close to Children’s Hospitals. This year we opened our first relocation at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford offering 30+ more rooms and enhanced facilities. We are excited that we will be able to support families in our new House in Edinburgh when the new Children’s Hospital is ready to open it’s doors in 2021.
Our Supporters
Our supporters are varied and come from all different types of backgrounds.
Our founding mission partner is McDonald’s, and whilst we remain an independent organisation, the Company has played an integral role in helping us raise money and establish the charity in the UK. We have been McDonald’s charity of choice since 1989. The biggest gift that McDonald's and their franchisees have given us is the opportunity to collect donations from their customers, both by allowing us to place our collection boxes in their restaurants and more recently enabling customer donations through their digital ordering screens.
We receive support and donations from many other large corporates, including Coca-Cola, Royal Bank of Canada, Martin Brower, Leo Burnett, The Marketing Store, Veolia and Linney Group to name a few. Corporates support us in many ways including sporting events, cooking family dinners in our Houses, and gardening and decorating to help make our Houses a home.
However, perhaps our most grateful bank of supporters are the families who have stayed with us.
More information about our supporters can be found on our website at:
https://www.rmhc.org.uk/who-we-are/our-supporters
