Our Mission, History & Impact

Lopez63 Optimized

Our Mission

To provide a home-away-from-home to families of seriously ill children and support to organizations that serve the needs of children.

Our Core Values

  • Acceptance – We care for others without prejudice and value diversity.
  • Accountability – We commit to accepting responsibility for our actions and holding one another to the highest standards.
  • Hospitality – We welcome everyone as if we are inviting them into our home, while maintaining a professional relationship.
  • Integrity – We build trust through honesty, sincerity and mutual respect.
  • Stewardship – We safeguard the time, talent and treasure with which we are entrusted.

History

Global RMHC History

In 1973, Philadelphia Eagles football player Fred Hill and his wife, Fran, learned that their daughter, Kim, had leukemia. While traveling into Philadelphia for treatment at the children’s hospital, they met other families in the same situation. These families drove hours to the hospital to be with their children, only to sleep overnight in waiting room chairs and to eat from vending machines because they had nowhere else to go.

Fred Hill and his football team decided to do something for these families… build them a “home-away-from-home” in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Eagles teamed up with local McDonald’s Owner/Operators to raise money, purchase and restore a house near the hospital where these families could stay. By October of 1974, the first Ronald McDonald House was born. Since that time, more than 350 Houses have been built worldwide.

Check Presentation on the steps of the first Ronald McDonald House
Check Presentation on the steps of the first Ronald McDonald House

Our RMHC St. Louis History

First Ronald McDonald House Opens - 1981

West Pine Boulevard

 

First House Expansion- 1984

West Pine Boulevard Expansion

Second House Expansion- 1989

Property to the West is purchased at West Pine

Second House Opens- 1996

Park Avenue 

Long-term Apartment Building Opens-2003

Adjacent to West Pine House

 

First Ronald McDonald Family Room Opens- 2005

Mercy Children's Hospital

Second Family Room Opens- 2007

St. Louis Children's Hospital 

Third Family Room Opens - 2008

SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital 

First family Room Relocates 2010

Mercy Children's Hospital

West County Ronald McDonald House Opens- 2010

On the campus of Mercy Hospital and the 300th House in the world!

Second Family Room Renovations- 2018

St. Louis Children's Hospital

Third Family Room Renovations-2021

SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital

First Family Room Renovated- 2022

Third-floor at Mercy Children's Hospital

Fourth Family Room Opens-2022

NICU at Mercy Children's Hospital

First & Second Ronald McDonald Houses Retire - 2024

West Pine Boulevard and Park Avenue 

The Grove Ronald McDonald House Opens - 2024

Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood

Achieving our mission is only possible through the help of donors and volunteers like you.