Budiey
The newly refurbished Ronald McDonald House headlines a quarter-century celebration
Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) unveiled the newly renovated Ronald McDonald House (RMH) located at Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Cheras in conjunction with RMHC’s 25th year anniversary in Malaysia.
Established in 1999, RMH is a home-away-from-home for children undergoing treatment for serious illnesses. The above concept enables low-income families travelling from different states in Malaysia to be closer to their children who are receiving treatment at PPUKM or in other general hospitals in the Klang Valley.
Additionally, families can have an economical alternative without needing to spend a substantial amount on accommodation as they are already burdened with high medical cost. To date, RMH have served more than 600 families providing comfort and support network throughout the treatment period.
Over the years, RMHC realized that an upgrade was crucial to maintain a comfortable and welcoming environment for the children and their families. In order to do that, RMHC reached out to its corporate partners and individual donors through the 2013 RMHC Charity Golf fundraising event, and also appealed to the general public for financial contributions to support the renovation of RMH.
One of the major improvements at RMH is a fresher and revitalized environment for the children. Upgraded child safety features such as tables and chairs with rounded edges and a fresh coat of paint with an improved colour scheme are some of the added features to the newly refurbished house. The full-fledged facilities at RMH include 19 bedrooms with attached bathrooms as well as a kitchen-cum-dining area, a living room, children’s play areas, computer and laundry rooms.
“The renovation of RMH is indeed a timely initiative for the benefit of the underserved and low-income families whose children are undergoing treatment. With the increasing medical cost, travelling families can now save on accommodation while their child receives treatment in the Klang Valley. I’m very pleased and grateful that RMH can now offer a more conducive environment for these families and continuously serve those in need,” said Azhari Abdul Taharim, Chairman of Ronald McDonald House (RMH) Malaysia.
“RMH is one of the four key focus areas that RMHC supports. The others include the Ronald McDonald Gift of Smile, Ronald McDonald Sensory Room and Ronald McDonald Scholarship Program. Collectively, more than RM11 million has been contributed by RMHC over 25 years to help more than 20,000 less fortunate children through the implementation of these programmes,” said Chan Chee Chin, President of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Malaysia.
Apart from the ongoing initiatives, RMHC is also extending its support to help children affected by the recent floods in Malaysia. In line with this, RMHC has announced that collections for the months of January and February 2015 from all RMHC donation coin boxes found in McDonald’s restaurants will be channelled to the children in flood-hit areas.
In addition, McDonald’s Malaysia as a corporate donor to RMHC has committed to support RMHC in this effort by pledging to match every ringgit collected during the same period. All funds will go towards helping the affected children to rebuild their lives after one of the worst floods to have hit the country.
