Since 1984, Ronald McDonald House Louisville has been fulfilling our mission of providing essential services that remove barriers, strengthen families, and promote healing when children need healthcare.
In 1981, Christine Rounsavall, the infant daughter of Jef Conner and Hunt Rounsavall, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer known as neuroblastoma. During Christine’s long, and eventually successful, hospital stay, her parents observed that many other parents of critically ill children, who had traveled far from home, had no place to sleep at night. It was not uncommon for Jef and Hunt to see families sleeping in the halls of the hospital to be near their children because there were no affordable options. Christine’s oncologist, Dr. Sal Bertolone, had the same observations and was interested in addressing this problem.
During that same period of Christine’s illness, Jef came across a Reader’s Digest article about an organization known as the Ronald McDonald House which had recently opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Deciding that this was the type of organization that our community needed, Jef, Hunt, and Dr. Bertolone went to work to establish a Ronald McDonald House in Louisville, Kentucky.
After years of fundraising and countless public awareness campaigns, the Louisville community opened the Ronald McDonald House in Louisville on September 10, 1984. The building at 550 S. First St. was completely renovated through the efforts of volunteers, community partners, and generous donations from the McDonald’s restaurants throughout the region.
The Louisville Ronald McDonald House began with 19 guest rooms. As the need grew, so did we. In 2003, we expanded to 29 guest rooms, and expanded again in 2009, this time to 36 guest rooms, each accommodating up to four people. Our latest expansion, completed in 2020, took us to 56 guest rooms.
In 1992, Ronald McDonald House Louisville helped to pioneer one of the first Ronald McDonald House Family Rooms in the world – a smaller version of Ronald McDonald House located inside a hospital that puts parents steps from their child. We currently have Ronald McDonald House Family Rooms in three Louisville hospitals – Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Norton Children’s Hospital, and UofL Health – Frazier Rehab Institute.
It all began in Philadelphia in 1974 when three-year-old Kim Hill — daughter of Philadelphia Eagles football player Fred Hill and his wife, Fran — was being treated for leukemia at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.
During Kim’s three years of treatment, the Hills often camped out on hospital chairs and benches and ate makeshift meals out of vending machines, all while watching other parents do the same. They learned that many families traveled great distances to bring their children to the medical facility and couldn’t afford hotel rooms.
The Hills knew there had to be a better way. Fred rallied the support of his Eagles teammates to raise funds. Through Jim Murray, the Eagles’ general manager, the team offered its support to Dr. Audrey Evans, head of the pediatric oncology unit at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Evans dreamed of a comfortable temporary residence for families of children being treated at her hospital.
Murray enlisted Don Tuckerman from the local McDonald’s advertising agency, who with the support of McDonald’s Regional Manager Ed Rensi, launched the St. Patrick’s Day Green Milkshake (now known as the Shamrock Shake) promotion. Funds raised went toward purchasing an old house located near the hospital.
And, thus, the first Ronald McDonald House came to be.
By 1979, 10 more houses opened. By 1984, local communities founded another 60 houses; then 53 more opened by 1989. Today, more than 377 Ronald McDonald House programs operate in 45 countries and regions around the world, providing comfort and support to more than 10 million families since 1974.
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