The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas unveiled Thursday the location and design for a new Ronald McDonald House in Little Rock that will triple the current one in size and serve more families.
The $8 million house will be built on the southwest corner of 10th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, down the road from the current house, on land owned by nearby Arkansas Children's Hospital. Thursday's announcement was made at the new site.
The hospital is leasing the land -- now used for parking -- to the charity for $1 per year for 99 years as part of the project.
Ronald McDonald houses offer a temporary place for families and some patients to stay while children receive treatment for illnesses at hospitals.
The new house will expand a lot of rooms that have been deemed too small at the current house and provide four more rooms -- for a total of 32 -- for families to stay. Bathrooms also will be added in each room.
It will be 34,000 square feet and five stories and serve an estimated 1,000 families each year, said Emily Piechocki, development director for the Ronald McDonald Charities of Arkansas.
Piechocki said $5 million has been raised so far from individuals and businesses, including $1 million from McDonald's of central Arkansas. She said the charity hopes to break ground on the new house next summer for an expected completion by the end of 2016.
The houses provide a supportive environment for families, Executive Director Katie Kirkpatrick Choate said.
"The families get so close, and they draw so much strength from each other," said Choate, adding that she heard two mothers recently tell each other they didn't know how they would get through the days without each other.
Gov. Mike Beebe addressed Thursday morning's crowd and recalled that a granddaughter of his had cancer as an infant. He said his family was fortunate enough to not need to stay in the house, but he recognizes that not all families can do that.
"It means a lot to me to be here and to not have to be in the hospital," said Jessica Smith, a 17-year-old cancer patient from Ravenden. Smith has been in the house for three weeks.
At the Little Rock house, families are referred by hospitals and must live at least 45 minutes outside of Little Rock to be eligible, according to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas.
The average stay for a family is three weeks, and most families have a child in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Many families staying in the Little Rock house come from outside Arkansas.
Metro on 10/31/2014