The Ronald McDonald House of Oklahoma City has been growing like crazy. In the last three years, the request for rooms has shot up 57 percent. Over 800 families from 73 Oklahoma counties, 16 other states and one foreign country stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in 2017.
Before the expansion, Ronald McDonald House only 14 rooms on the third floor of Garrison Tower, which is connected via an elevated walkway to The Children's Hospital at OU Medicine. If the house was full, there were 14 additional rooms available at a local Holiday Inn. Those rooms fill up quickly and the house has had to turn away 414 just this year. The president and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oklahoma City, Susan Adams, knew the home needed more space, but thought it would involve lots of fundraising and construction.
That is when a $2.4 million gift from the pharmaceutical company AbbVie can to the rescue. Executive vice president of external affairs at AbbVie, Laura Schumacher, knows how difficult it can be to have a child in the hospital for an extended amount of time. Our donation is grounded in the shared belief that families should have the necessary resources to care for a hospitalized child, along with the support to strengthen their well-being and resiliency during a challenging time,” Schumacher said in a news release.
With this donation, the location, which will be ready in 2020, will have an additional 26 rooms, a second kitchen and more space for families to gather. In addition to that, there will be a salon and activity rooms for exercise classes. “This gift from AbbVie is transformational for us,” Adams said.
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