The Rotary Club of the Battlefords had a special presentation Monday for the fundraising campaign for Saskatoon's Ronald McDonald House.
Gerald W. Grandey and Douglas Osborn, both co-chairs of the expansion campaign, along with Kaylynn Schroeder, the president of the house, made their presentation about the Ronald McDonald House and solicited donations from those in attendance.
Ronald McDonald Houses are located near hospitals, and are for families of child patients (considered by RMH to be under 19) to stay while the child has to go to the hospital. People are awarded spots at the house on a first-come, first-served basis, and are not made to specify the length of their stay. Visitors are also not chosen based on the severity of their hospital visit, and though the cost of staying is only $10 per night, no one is turned away because they cannot pay.
Also detailed at the meeting were more statistics about the Ronald McDonald House's usage. About 42 per cent of the 598 families staying at the house stayed for only one to two days, with 27 per cent staying three to seven. About five per cent, however, stayed between a month and a year.
Currently, the Ronald McDonald House has only 13 rooms, and has to turn away one third of families interested in staying. Because of expansions at the hospital, management expects that that number will increase to two thirds in the coming years if the building remains at its current size.
Numbers were also provided on the number of people who used the facility per health region, going back to 1995. Interestingly, the house hosted more families from the Prairie North Health Region than any other in the province, including the three northern health regions (Keewatin Yatth, Mamawetan Churchill River and the Athabasca Health Authority) and the Prince Albert Parkland region.
The expansion will dramatically increase the size of the facility, from 13,054 square feet to 43,054. The addition will include 18 new bedrooms, 22 new bathrooms, four new kitchen work stations, two new maternal baby care rooms, one new gathering space, one new play area and two new laundry rooms. All told, it will likely ensure no one is turned away from the house who would like (or need) to use it.
The day-to-day costs of running the house are made up by donations, and are kept low because the house relies on a large number of volunteers, around three for every paid staff person. Each year, the volunteers are responsible for dedicating a total of 6,438 hours to the house. Despite its name, it is not run by McDonald's, or by the Ronald McDonald charity, though it does receive about 20 per cent of its funding from Ronald McDonald charities.
The presentation for the Rotary Club left a positive impression on many in the audience and seems to have left a positive impression on many in the province as well. After starting their fundraising in April 2012, the fundraising committee has raised a total of $9.5 million, only $500,000 short of their $10 million fundraising goal.
After the presentation, the new Ronald McDonald House got $10,000 closer to its fundraising goal, as Harvey and Jean Walker pledged that amount towards the facility.
For more information about the Saskatoon Ronald McDonald House, visit www.rmh.sk.ca. Donations can also be made on the website itself.
