Ronald Mcdonald House Charities of the Piedmont Triad

Ronald Mcdonald House Charities of the Piedmont Triad, Inc. (rmhcpt) owns and operates a 36-bedroom facility that provides temporary lodging for families of seriously ill children who must leave their home community to seek medical care for their children in our community. For most of the families we serve, their children are patients at atrium health wake forest baptist brenner children's hospital or novant health forsyth medical center. However, any medical facility in our community (service area) may refer families caring for pediatric patients. More than a place to stay, our Ronald Mcdonald House offers our guest families comfortable bedrooms, home-cooked meals, laundry facilities, free parking, areas for recreation and the support of professional staff and other guests in similar circumstances. In 2023, our House served 893 families from 56 north carolina counties, and 14 other states. Families are asked for a donation of 10.00 for each night they stay with us. No one is turned away due to an inability to pay and approximately 92% of our families are unable to donate any amount. the difference between the cost to operate each room and the amount paid by our families is funded by community donations. Civic groups, churches and individuals contribute to provide funding for our House. In-kind goods and services valued in excess of 232,000 enhance the services provided to our families and reduce the amount of financial donations spent on programs, administrative and fundraising costs. Some examples of our in-kind gifts include: laudry, yard work and landscaping services, 418 meals prepared by volunteers or provided by local resturants as donations or purchased with donated funds, snack foods, drinks, household and paper goods. We enjoyed having 30 volunteers providing 1,557 hours to support staff and families in our House on a regular basis by assisting in meal preparation, guest family relations, office and housekeeping duties. In addition, 1,280 one-time volunteers serving 3,450 hours, were involved in promoting the House and implementing the House's annual service & fundraising events: House and grounds cleaning, sport-a- shirt/share-a-night, dbmc golf tournament, character breakfast and luminary kit sales.

Rmhcpt operates three Ronald Mcdonald family rooms. One is located on the sixth floor of atrium health wake forest baptist brenner children's hospital, one on the third floor of novant health forsyth medical center, and one on the sixth floor of moses h. cone memorial hospital. the family rooms offer the day services of the Ronald Mcdonald House within the walls of the hospital. Comfortable seating areas, a kitchen stocked with complimentary drinks and snacks, and computers with internet access are among the amenities provided. the family rooms are open to any family with a pediatric patient receiving treatment at the hospital. Our 139 volunteers gave 8,092 hours to staff our family rooms monday through sunday. the family rooms welcomed 4,775 unique visitors for 14,806 visits from 52 north carolina counties and 18 other states.

the rmhcpt family support services program provides assistance, education, and referral service necessary to promote the well-being of the whole family. the program helps families adjust to their child's illness by offering services that enrich parenting and coping skills. Support services are offered through daily visits with families at the hospital by the family support manager and volunteers, informal support groups, relaxation and stress management sessions, recreational activities for siblings, family member birthdays, holiday celebrations, pet therapy and bingo. Educational resources include one-on-one training, and parenting workshops. A family resource library with books, videos and computer is available to do research. Transportation to medical appointments and medical facilities, and assistance with access to community resources is available. We had 11 recurring family support services volunteers providing 158 volunteer hours.

Rmhcpt offers a hospitality cart/personal care kit program to serve: (1) parents that are reluctant to leave their child's bedside and/or (2)mothers-to-be that are receiving antepartum care at hospital prior to birth of a child with medical challenges and (3) families receiving services at a hospital/medical facility too small to support a Ronald Mcdonald family room or even the services of a hospitality cart. Our eight hospitality carts operating at atrium health wake forest baptist brenner children's hospital (two), atrium health wake forest baptist downtown health plaza (one), novant health forsyth medical center (one), novant health thomasville medical center (one), novant health waughtown pediatrics clinic (one) and cone health m.h. Cone memorial hospital (one) and cone health tim & carolynn rice center (one) are complemented by the personal care kit programs operating at high point medical center and randolph health. Our 25 hospitality cart/personal care kit volunteers giving 1,171 hours of service joined staff in serving 21,151 individuals with items from our hospitality carts and/or distribution of persoanl care kits.