Earlier this month, Ronald McDonald House of the Greater Hudson Valley (RMH-GHV) celebrated a decade of helping the Greater Hudson Valley community.
Ronald McDonald House helps keep families with sick or injured children connected to one another, while offering any support they may need.
There are Ronald McDonald House locations associated with 90% of the world’s leading children’s hospitals. It is a hospital’s job to focus on making sure its patients are taken care of, but whose job is it to take care of the patients’ families?
River Journal North spoke with RMH-GHV Executive Director Christina Riley about how the charity raises money to fund its programs and support families in need.
“It’s a lot to take care of an entire family, and that’s where Ronald McDonald House comes in,” she told us. RMH-GHV is on the Westchester Medical Center campus in Valhalla, steps from Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital.
Each Ronald McDonald House location is independently funded and operated. RMH-GHV funds its program through several different charity events in conjunction with the community, while 10% of the funding comes from McDonald’s itself.
The house’s two largest fundraising events are an annual golf outing that usually takes place in the summer at Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale and a Clay Shoot that takes place in Dover Plains. Covid-19 has altered the timing of these two events, now scheduled for later this year.
Ronald McDonald House also has two annual walks: Dylan Hoffman Memorial Walk and Family Fun Day and Footsteps Walk. Each brings in significant funds for RMH-GHV, while also bringing the community together. In addition, a Red Shoe Event honors people and organizations that support RMH-GHV. It is set for this October at Hudson Loft in Irvington.
Ronald McDonald House Greater Hudson Valley has come a long way since its opening a little more than 10 years ago. Previously, the building was a five-bedroom home. Today, it has 12 bedrooms. Three rooms in the house are being renovated through donations from local partners. The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the refurbished house is scheduled for June 18.
RMH-GHV is touched by the amount of support it has received from the local community over the past decade. As this pandemic winds down, Ronald McDonald House will be resuming full operations in the summer. It welcomes your support to continue helping families in need. “There is always something,” Riley said.
If you want to be helping something, visit rmh-ghv.org, where you’ll find a complete list of events and ways you can help.
Kendall Hayes, a native of Briarcliff Manor, is a rising Junior at Villanova University. She is majoring in Communication with a specialization in Journalism.
