Featured Hero of the Month
July 2018 Hero of the Month:
Ronald McDonald House
Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®) of Greater Las Vegas creates and supports programs that directly improve the health, education, and well-being of children our community. The Ronald McDonald House® is the cornerstone program of RMHC® and provides a “home-away-from-home” for families who travel to Las Vegas to receive critical medical treatment for their children. Without the House, families might have to sleep in the hospital lobby, a child’s hospital room, or even their cars, as most families cannot afford a hotel room for weeks or sometimes months – especially under the financial stress of mounting medical bills. Since opening in 1998, the House has served more than 4,600 families for more than 56,500 nights providing lodging, meals, transportation, and other resources during some of the most difficult times of their lives. RMHC® exists to keep families close at no cost to them.
In addition to the House, RMHC® supports other programs that directly impact our Las Vegas community. In April of 2016, RMHC® opened its first Ronald McDonald Family Room® keeping families closer than ever before. Right on the grounds of Sunrise Children’s Hospital, this is a special place for families to relax and recharge so they can focus on the healing of their children. Families are able to take naps, sleep through the night, shower, eat from the kitchenette, utilize computers, and take a small break from the beeping alarms and bleak walls of the hospital – yet remain seconds away from bedside.
The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile® provides affordable, and often times free, dental care to underinsured children in rural Nevada and inner-city Las Vegas. Many of the kids served aboard Care Mobile experience their first dental cleaning ever! Pain from dental disease or infection should never hinder a child’s ability to focus in school or sleep through the night.
Lastly, Ronald McDonald House® volunteers prepare and deliver 148 healthy sack lunches each week day to the bedsides of hospitalized children. Supporters in the community decorate paper bags with bright designs and words of encouragement to be used for these lunches. Volunteers then pack the lunches with healthy items and deliver them to Sunrise Children’s Hospital and UMC. More than 37,000 lunches are delivered each year to family members who forget to eat on a given day or are too scared to leave their child for even a few moments to get lunch.
Our Past Heroes
