For 50 years, Ronald McDonald House has been providing support and care to sick children and their families around the world.
The foundation’s story began in 1974 with the wish of a little girl named Kim Hill, who was suffering from leukemia. She desperately wanted her mom and dad to be with her in the hospital, especially when she felt severe pain at night and didn’t have the strength to call the nurse. Kim didn’t understand why her parents had to leave her alone in the hospital.
So that families of such sick children could stay together in hospitals, Dr. Audrey Evans, McDonald’s, and the Philadelphia Eagles, where Kim’s father played, joined forces and built the first Ronald McDonald House near a hospital in Philadelphia. This is how the charitable organization Ronald McDonald House was founded.
In Ukraine, Ronald McDonald House Charities Ukraine began its operations in 2016. We are proud to be part of a global organization and to support Ukrainian families during their most difficult times. In 2017, the first Family Room was opened at the Okhmatdyt Children’s Medical Center in Lviv. Over the years, 6 Family Rooms have been opened in Ukraine’s largest children’s hospitals. Since the start of the war, the foundation has launched humanitarian programs and provided assistance worth 120 million UAH. To develop the healthcare system, the foundation implements training programs for doctors on family-centered care—a modern approach to treating children that places sick children and their families at the center of medical attention.
