Community

Introduction

The Ronald McDonald House Charity of Ireland is committed to helping children who are living with serious illness or disabilities. Since we set up the Charity in 1997, it has improved life for children in Ireland by supporting projects in healthcare, education and social welfare around the country.

All of our restaurants make an annual contribution to the administrative costs of the charity.

The next time you’re enjoying a Big Mac and chocolate milkshake, you too can help by simply donating money in the “spinners” and collection boxes in McDonald’s restaurants around the country.

The First Ronald McDonald House

The Ronald McDonald House is situated in the grounds of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. The House provides a home-away-from-home for families who have to travel to visit their children in hospital in Dublin.

It has 16 en-suite family bedrooms, each with a direct telephone line so parents can be quickly and easily connected to the hospital. Each room can accommodate up to four family members at a time. There are three kitchens and a large dining area, a toddlers’ room, a TV room, a library and full laundry facilities. There is also a small garden and a dedicated children’s play area.

The House is divided into four wings, each named after one of the Irish provinces. Every bedroom is named after a river from that province so we have rooms called The Liffey in the Leinster Wing, The Shannon in the Munster Wing, The Corrib in the Connacht Wing and The Lagan in the Ulster Wing.

The roads around the hospital are named after Irish mountains so we felt this was in keeping with the locality. Also, we wanted to reflect the fact that people come to the hospital from all over Ireland.

The House cost €3.75 million to build. Two thirds of that was covered by RMHC Ireland while The Children’s Medical and Research Centre at Our Lady’s Hospital contributed one third of the building costs. The hospital kindly licensed the land on which the House is built to RMHC Ireland Ltd.

The House costs €300,000 a year to run. The costs are covered by the funds raised by The House and RMHC. The House receives no funding or financial support from either the hospital or the Government, so your support is always very gratefully received.

Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin

Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin is an acute paediatric teaching hospital with 243 beds, employing 1,200 staff. It is Ireland’s largest paediatric hospital and provides tertiary care services for children and medical research for childhood illnesses.

Our First Families Arrive

The builders handed The Ronald McDonald House Charity Ireland the keys to the first Irish Ronald McDonald House on 15th October 2004, 30 years, to the day, after the first Ronald McDonald House was opened in the USA.

Over the next few weeks, we prepared the house for our first families. Many McDonald’s owner/operators, McDonald’s crew, and restaurant staff helped with the pre-opening clean-up. We could never have done it without them.

On Monday, 8th November, Mairéad Lavelle, the House Manager and Liz Nolan, RMHC Ireland Charity Administrator welcomed the very first families.

 

The Official Opening

On Friday, 3rd December, 2004 the first Irish Ronald McDonald House was officially opened by Mary Harney TD, Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, with the assistance of Jim Murray, who had opened the very first House in Philadelphia 30 years before.

Since the House opened, we have had over 800 families of seriously ill children staying with us from all over the country. They have all been very appreciative of the facilities at the House and for the care and comfort they have received during their stay.

Most of the parents who stay with us have children who are seriously ill. Mairéad Lavelle, The House Manager and her team make every effort to ease some of the pain and trauma suffered by parents and families while their children are ill in hospital. To date, they have done a wonderful job.

 

Charities We Help

Ronald McDonald House Charity of Ireland helps out many Irish children’s charities, schools, hospitals and organisations. Our fund-raising events have raised money and awareness for charities including:

• Temple Street Hospital
• The Ben McHale Fund
• St Paul’s School/Hospital, Beaumont
• National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght
• St. Martin’s School
• St. Brendan’s National School
• Friends of Special Care Baby Unit
• All Children Learn Differently
• GRÁ Autism
• Little Angels School, Letterkenny

Ronald McDonald House Charity and the Future

We will keep raising funds to pay for the House and our work with all of the Irish children’s charities and organisations which look to us for help. Please contact us if you would like us to make a grant donation to your organisation.

In 2007, we were delighted to be involved with two very special projects.

We built a specialised children’s playground at The National Rehabilitation Hospital in Rochestown Avenue at the cost of €67,000.

We also sponsored a family weekend at The Barretstown Camp, Barretstown Castle, in Ballymore Eustace at a cost of €43,000. The medical professionals call this programme “therapeutic recreation” for the families involved, but everyone at Barretstown knows it as “serious fun”.

Fund Raising Events 2008

Date	Event	Details	Raised 2007
April 19	Sponsored Cycle	55 Mile Cycle, Lough Ree	€30,000
June	Women’s Mini Marathon	Dublin Contact us for Sponsorship Cards	€3,500
Jun 19	Golf Classic	Powerscourt Golf Club, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow	€35,500
Sept	Women’s Mini Marathon	Cork. Contact us for Sponsorship Cards	€30,000
Oct 17	Gala Ball	4 Seasons Hotel, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4	€115,000
Nov 20	World Children’s Day	National Fund Raising Event. Sale of ‘Helping Hands’	€64,500
All Year	Local Events	Organised by families and friends who have stayed at the Ronald McDonald House	€107,000
All Year	Collection Boxes	Collection boxes in McDonald’s Stores, Nationwide	€205,000

Our Website

You can get more information about our charity and the Ronald McDonald House, as well as details of all our fundraising events at Ronald McDonald House Charity of Ireland.

If you want to support our efforts, you can make a donation online.
 

Board of Trustees

Chairman
Bruce Mitchell

CEO (Volunteer)
Marian Carroll
Director, Artcast Ltd

Secretary
Brenda O’Loughlin
McDonald’s Owner Operator, Tullamore

Treasurer
Kevin Keenan
Financial Controller, Metroplex Ireland Ltd

Trustees
Marcus Hewson - M.D. McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland Ltd
Alison Cowzer – Director, Jacob Fruitfield
Dr. Billy Burke - Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin
Val Quinn - M.D. Coca-Cola Ireland
Kieran McDermott - McDonald’s Owner Operator, Shannon
Michele Ryan - HR Director, McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland Ltd

Contact Details

Ronald McDonald House Charity
Liz Nolan
Charity Administrator
RMHC Ireland Ltd.
Ronald McDonald House
Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin
Dublin 12

Phone: 00 353 1 456 0436
Fax: 00 353 1 456 0446
Email: admin@rmhcireland.com
Registered Charity Number: 12553

Ronald McDonald House
Mairéad Lavelle
House Manager
Ronald McDonald House,
Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin
Dublin 12

Phone: 00 353 1 456 0435
Fax: 00 353 1 456 0446.
Email: ronaldhouse@rmhcireland.com

 

 

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Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities of Ireland Visit The Barretstown Camp