When Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill's 3-year old daughter, Kim Hill, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1974, he and his wife camped out on hospital chairs and benches, ate food from vending machines and did all they could to keep Kim from seeing their sadness, exhaustion, and frustration. Noticing the many families around them in the same situation, Hill rallied the support of his teammates to raise funds to help other families experiencing the same emotional and financial traumas as his own.
Through the Philadelphia Eagles' General Manager, Jim Murray, the team offered its support to Dr. Audrey Evans, head of the pediatric oncology unit at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. It was Dr. Evans' dream for a house that could serve as a temporary residence for families of children being treated at her hospital that led to the first Ronald McDonald House - a seven bedroom house on Spruce Street. That House grew to its current incarnation: a 44 bedroom House on Chestnut Street that currently serves over 2,100 families each year. And Kim Hill-she's doing fine now.
The Birmingham Ronald McDonald House opened in 1979, the fifth in the nation, first to open debt-free, and the first to open in a non-NFL franchise city. Marianne Sharbel, then the PR and Communications Director at Children's Hospital saw first-hand how families were sleeping in cars and in the hospital lobby. She took the idea of the Ronald McDonald House to Max Cooper, the local McDonald's owner/operator. You may be familiar with Max's work. "Two All-Beef Patties, Special Sauce......." was written by Max years ago when he worked for an ad agency for McDonald's before he became one of the largest franchisees in the country.
The original Birmingham House, opened with nine bedrooms, only served parents of cancer patients treated at Children's Hospital. Faced with enormous demand from families of children with other diagnoses, in 1991 RMHCA's mission and facilities were expanded to serve families not only of cancer patients at Children's Hospital, but also families of children in special care units at Children's or UAB. At the same time, property to the south of the original building was purchased and a connector building was added between the two structures, expanding the House to 32 bedrooms.
In 2002, RMHCA evaluated changes in medical practice, including shorter inpatient stays, extended outpatient treatments and the development of specialty pediatric services at other Birmingham area medical centers. As a result of this evaluation, RMHCA further expanded eligibility to serve families of any sick or injured child that comes to Birmingham for inpatient or outpatient care regardless of diagnosis or provider. The Young Leadership Board was also formed in 2002, to serve as ambassadors, raise money and awareness among the Young Professionals (20- to 40-year olds) in Birmingham. This was one of the first among more than 38 junior boards in Birmingham.
In 2003, a consulting firm was hired to assess the long-term viability of the facility. They concluded that the expansion of pediatric services in Birmingham would make the services of the Ronald McDonald House necessary for the foreseeable future. In addition, almost $2 million in repairs and renovations would be needed to maintain operations. As a result of the study and their recommendations, the Board voted in 2004 to build a new facility. The Capital Campaign went public in February 2006, with a goal of raising $6.75 million to fund the new building. With a donation of land worth over $1 million from Children's Hospital, the location of the House was decided upon and construction started in February 2006.
The New House opened for families on June 27, 2007. With 41 bedrooms, an elevator, private bathrooms and cable television in each bedroom, it is an improvement over the previous structure. It also opened without any debt, meaning all monies raised today go to the families staying at the House and not toward any interest or mortgage payments. This has allowed us to keep the rates at $10 a night for the first 21 nights, and $5 a night after that.