From the Board Chairman and President
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ast year, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Metro St. Louis experienced tremendous and exciting growth because of friends like you. In July your support helped us expand and relocate our Ronald McDonald Family Room at Mercy Children’s Hospital. Now more families can take a hot shower, grab a delicious snack, send emails to family members about how their child is doing, or just unwind from the stress of watching their child endure countless tests and procedures. More families can now take a deep breath and Phil Brown, 2010 Board Chairman unwind literally steps from their child’s bedside. In fact, in 2010, more than 5,300 St. Louis and out-of-town families enjoyed all the comforts of the Family Room at no charge. In September we opened the third St. Louis Ronald McDonald House and the 300th House in the world to provide all the comforts of home for families traveling to West St. Louis County hospitals for medical treatment. This gorgeous 18,188-square-foot home provides 20 additional families each night with warm beds, delicious meals, and a network of other families who can relate to having a seriously-ill child. One time a family even shared that her children call the new Ronald McDonald House a mansion and are so excited every time they get to come visit mom and dad to visit their sister who was born with severe Down’s syndrome. With an average stay of ten days, more than 750 additional families like this will be helped each year. That means more than 2,000 families per year will now find a place to call home when home is so far away. If you would still like to contribute to the Capital Campaign, funds will help build the RMHC of Metro St. Louis endowment and help to expand and renovate our Ronald McDonald House on West Pine Boulevard to address a shortage of rooms. Oftentimes we have more than 50 families on the wait list each night, and we could use your help to make sure we don’t have to turn away families as often. In July of 2011, RMHC of Metro St. Louis will celebrate 30 years of giving families hope when hope is all they have left. We may not be doctors, but we are friends. RMHC is not a lifesaving cure; we are a hug, a smile and a shoulder to cry on. Thank you for helping us give families hope for three decades—we couldn’t have done it without you.
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010 began as a year of great trepidation, yet with great excitement. We had started construction in November 2009 on our third Ronald McDonald House on the campus of St. John’s Mercy Hospital, and we had plans to move our first Family Room from its original location on the 7th floor of St. John’s to the new Mercy Children’s Hospital tower in June. In 2009, we experienced our first deficit in 18 years. Because of the opening of the new House adding a projected $250,000 to $300,000 to our operating expense, we knew Dan Harbaugh, RMHC President 2010 was going to be a challenging year. In Photo Compliments of Westrich Photography addition, we were in the midst of a Capital Campaign to raise $7 million. As we moved through the year, our events achieved great success and we even added a new fundraiser, the RMHC Ride, that attracted 330 participants who raised over $150,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities. Our two existing Houses and three Family Rooms operated throughout the year at a high level of capacity and a very high level of satisfaction, as indicated in our family surveys. As we moved closer to opening the new House, we held numerous VIP events, hosting special tours and receptions for donors, friends and volunteers. Our Volunteer Appreciation Night kicked off a two-week long series of events and all who attended were in awe of the beauty and elegance of the new House. On September 29, four years of hard work, fundraising and many meetings paid off as we opened our newest Ronald McDonald House, the third in St. Louis and 300th in the world, for 20 families each night. We finished the year on a high note by once again achieving our financial goals and positioning ourselves for a strong 2011. We are blessed to have many donors, friends, committee members and volunteers who make all of this happen on an annual basis. We hope as you read this annual report you, too, realize that our success is due to our many friends and supporters. We hope to continue this success in 2011.
www.rmhcstl.com
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