“On behalf of the Ronald McDonald House Charities board and myself, welcome and thank you so much for being here with us today to help us celebrate this amazing milestone,” said Rita Cyr, executive director of RMHC Dayton. “Today is a very special day, and the Ronald McDonald House is truly a very special place.”
The new lodging facility will include 42 guest rooms on three floors for a total of 40,000 square feet of space. The facility will include a partial basement, communal space, and an outdoor recreation area. When the construction of the new facility is finished, the current building will be demolished, allowing for green space and the potential for additional expansion in the future.
The new facility will allow RMHC Dayton help approximately 700 more families for a total of 1,000 families each year. This will allow those patient families to save $4.5 million annually on lodging, food, and transportation expenses.
“We are currently turning away 65% of the families that show up at our door,” said Cyr. The growth of pediatric health services in Dayton has also impacted this need for lodging. Before Shriners Children’s Ohio moved to its current location in Dayton, RMHC Dayton turned away approximately 50-54% of patient families seeking lodging.
“We want to be able to say, ‘Yes,’ and handle the surges,” Cyr said.
RMHC Dayton has raised $22.4 million of its nearly $29 million goal, which increased from its previous goal of $25 million over recent months due to escalating construction costs.
Of its capital campaign, $13 million was donated from Ohio’s Medicaid managed care organizations.
CareSource President and CEO, Erhardt Preitauer and his wife, Kili Preitauer, Midwest Region President at ValueHealth, serve as co-chairs of the Ronald McDonald House Dayton capital campaign.
“The opportunity to be a part of this was tremendous,” Erhardt Preitauer said during the groundbreaking ceremony.
Aimee Hancock contributed to this story.
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