Ronald McDonald House Charities of Knoxville TN Inc

Our Main Purpose - Housing Families: The Ronald McDonald House offers temporary lodging for families having critically ill children, 21 years of age or younger, being treated in area hospitals. In our thirty-nine years of operation we have served approximately 60,400 people. Beside the obvious financial advantage of staying at our home-away-from-home where we gladly waive the $5.00 per night requested donation if it is prohibitive, there is the additional benefit of meeting other families who are experiencing similar medical problems with their children. Its a place where they can draw additional comfort and support from friendships that are born here. In addition to lodging, our supportive community helps provide all the comforts of home such as food, laundry facilities, transportation,free wi-fi...all of which are included in their stay. We can accomodate 65 people or 15 families in the two houses we operate. By years end, we had received referrals from three different medical facilities that represented families from 17 various states and 41 counties from across Tennessee. What brought these people to our doors? The most prevalent reasons were newborn complications such as prematurity and respiratory issues, cancer, and brain and spinal issues. There were as manyother medical conditions that also brought families. Although we have no length of stay restrictions, the average length of stay was 9 days. As long as a child is hospitalized, family members including extended family and siblings have been welcome.