Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Metro St. Louis provides comfort, care, and lodging to families of seriously-ill children. These children, (eighteen years and younger), who live outside a 50 mile radius of St. Louis, are being treated at local area hospitals, including: St. Louis Children’s Hospital, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, Mercy Children’s Hospital. In addition to the three Houses and the apartment complex, each of these hospitals has a special place where any family can take respite, a Ronald McDonald Family Room. RMHC St. Louis sites provide a warm, home-like atmosphere where families can eat, sleep, watch TV, or just relax, but most importantly, spend time with each other and with other families in similar situations. Every effort is made to make the family feel as if they were at home.

The first Ronald McDonald House in St. Louis opened in July of 1981, with seed money from local McDonald’s owner/operators and donations from corporations, organizations, individuals, and foundations. The original House underwent two expansions over the years to bring the total number of bedrooms to 20. In April of 1996, a second House was opened bringing the total number of rooms to 31. In April of 2003, an 8-unit apartment complex adjacent to the original House was opened to accommodate the needs of long-term families. RMHC opened the third St. Louis Ronald McDonald House and the 300th in the world on the campus of Mercy Children’s Hospital in September 2010, bringing the total number of rooms to 59. The first Ronald McDonald Family Room was opened at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center (now Mercy Children’s Hospital) in 2005. The second Family Room was opened in St. Louis Children’s Hospital in 2007 with the most recent room being opened in SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in 2008.

For information on the 2012 Ronald McDonald House Ride, please visit our website, www.rmhcstl.com.