The Ronald McDonald House of Durham on campus plans to “supersize” itself.
Located off Alexander Avenue on Central Campus, the facility will undergo a $6.7 million project to drastically expand its physical size starting at the end of the year.
Providing a home-like atmosphere for families whose children are receiving treatment in the Duke Children’s Hospital, the facility will be doubled to have 55 rooms and suites. The project should be completed in early 2013 and construction will begin later this year.
“[The house is expanding] because there is a need for more rooms to accommodate the patients and families in need of care at the Duke Hospital and unable to find a room in the current Ronald McDonald House,” said Dr. Joseph St. Geme, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Duke University Medical Center.
The house hosts 1,200 families each year, but the demand for space is much higher, St. Geme said. This year, for instance, the house had to turn down 700 families due to lack of space. When the house does not have space, families are often sent to the Millennium Hotel and other local hotels at special rates that the Ronald McDonald House covers.
Currently, the Ronald McDonald House has received pledges totaling almost $4 million, said Bill Donovan, executive director of the center. Donovan added that raising the remaining money will take about two years. The house publicly announced a capital campaign to raise the remaining approximate $3 million Feb. 11. Some of its current gifts have come from large donors such as the University, the McDonald’s Corporation and individual McDonald’s owners and operators, including the store in the Bryan Center. The rest of the money will come from the community and other companies that support charities.
“We’ll break ground when we have 80 percent of our target, and we’re expecting to break ground later this year,” Donovan said.
With the new expansion, the house will also need more volunteers, who come from the Durham community and Duke. The Alpha Delta Pi sorority, men’s lacrosse team, men’s football team, women’s basketball team and other Duke volunteers regularly come to the house to cook meals, talk with the families staying in the facility and help with fundraising, Donovan said.
“We actually compete with a lot of other people on campus for time there,” said junior Erica Nagi, president of ADPi. “Now, with more room, there will be more opportunities to volunteer.”
Every semester, ADPi has a waffle breakfast to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House. For the sorority’s 100th anniversary, members will host a large anniversary celebration and a waffle breakfast the next morning, with all proceeds benefiting the Ronald McDonald House and its expansion.
With the new families that will be staying in the house, Nagi said that she hopes there will be more large-scale interactive programs with the kids beyond just cooking.
McKids, another student organization on campus, volunteers at the house on a weekly basis. By visiting twice a week, McKids volunteers have come to know many of the families staying at the house, said the club’s treasurer, Rachel Vorwaller.
“We just do arts and crafts or bingo or holiday activities with the kids,” said Vorwaller, a sophomore. “There’s this one girl who is in high school... she’s on the older end of people staying there, so my roommate and I went out to dinner with her at Devil’s Bistro because for her it was difficult.”
The McDonald’s in the Bryan Center feeds families in the center every Friday night, said Ric Richards, president of the board of trustees at the house. The restaurant prepares quarter pounders, salads and french fries for the families, he said. He added that families enjoy when volunteers come to serve dinner and listen to their stories.
“It breaks your heart,” Richards said. “It really hits home, some of these health issues. The kids that are sick come from all over the country.”
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