Put a smile on—the Ronald McDonald House is slated to expand by 25,000 square feet.
The Ronald McDonald House of Durham—located on Alexander Avenue on Central Campus—celebrated the beginning of its expansion with a groundbreaking ceremony held Wednesday. An additional three-story building will be connected to the original facility, according to official plans shown at the ceremony. The $6.7 million project is expected to be completed by the summer of 2012.
The expansion relies heavily on support from contributors, said Ric Richards, President of the Ronald McDonald House’s board of trustees and owner of the Bryan Center McDonald’s.
“We are like a three-legged stool here, with support from Duke, Durham and the Ronald McDonald House,” Richards said. “We need money and volunteers from each leg because we can’t pay for everything we do. [Charity] gets in your blood, like [McDonald’s] ketchup in your veins.”
The expansion will provide suite-style apartments, which will double the number of families the house can accommodate. The house will also feature a new dining room, community room, playroom, fitness center and computer center.
The Ronald McDonald House planned the addition after having to turn away more than 700 families annually due to a lack of space, Richards said. With support from Duke and Durham, the house will be able to welcome more families into the community.
Established as the first house in the United States without sponsorship of a professional football team, the Ronald McDonald House has depended on the community for more than 30 years. Duke’s partnership with the house strengthens Duke’s relationship with Durham, connecting the community through a common goal, Durham Mayor Bill Bell said.
The house draws volunteers from different groups in Duke and Durham, including greek organizations, student volunteers, Durham volunteers, Duke Medical Center employees and Duke athletic teams, Richards noted. The football and men’s lacrosse teams volunteer at the house every year.
“Coach John Danowski [of men’s lacrosse] brings them here and talks to them about the charity. When they’re cooking their dinners, he doesn’t let them take shortcuts but makes them actually cook the food and peel the potatoes,” Richards said. “And Coach David Cutcliffe [of football] talks about how if they want to be a football player on his team, this is a role they have to play.”
The Duke University Health System also plays a major role in the Ronald McDonald House, contributing the first million dollars to the expansion project, Dr. Victor Dzau, chancellor for health affairs and president and CEO of the DUHS, said in an interview after the event. Many residents at the house are patients treated at the Duke hospital.
“It’s an extension of family,” Dzau said. “When patients come to Duke, it’s not just the patient alone—it’s the family. And it’s not just [about] the disease alone—it’s about the anxiety that the families are under, so when you have a place where they can be connected to each other, to feel at home, it really welcomes them into a place where they can feel comfortable.”
Each year, more than 1,000 families call the Ronald McDonald House their home while their children receive treatment at the Duke Children’s Hospital and Health Center.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, N.C. resident Amanda Gard described how her family traveled from the Outer Banks to Duke Hospital after Gard gave birth to premature twin boys, Wyatt and Davis, in August. Both needed medical attention provided at Duke, and Wyatt needed heart surgery. Without the Ronald McDonald House, the Gard family would not have had an inexpensive place to stay for an extended period and would have been unable to provide their children with the proper care, Gard said.
“Thank you for welcoming us not only into the house but into the Durham community,” Gard said.
During the ceremony, Richards unveiled a life-size bronze statue of a person holding a child, representing the Ronald McDonald House mission, to be placed outside the house once construction is complete. He gave a miniature version of this statue to Dzau as a reminder of the relationship and connection between the Ronald McDonald House, Durham and Duke.
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