The Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House was the first of the Ronald McDonald House Charities and now stands at 39th and Chestnut Streets in West Philadelphia.[1]
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The house opened in 1974 with the help of Philadelphia Eagles tight end Fred Hill, manager Jim Murray and owner Leonard Tose. In 1971, while Hill's daughter was being treated for leukemia at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, he saw other families living in the waiting rooms because they could not afford hotel rooms, and decided to help create a home where families could stay nearby. McDonald's donated money from the firm's Shamrock Shake promotion. [2] The original house was located at 4032 Spruce St. with room for seven families. The house at 3925 Chestnut street opened in 1981 with 19 bedrooms.[3] This was increased in 1996 to a total capacity of 43 rooms through an expansion largely funded by U.S. Healthcare. [4]
The Victorian-era Romanesque mansion was built in 1893 for William James Swain, the son of Philadelphia Public Ledger editor and publisher William Moseley Swain[5] by architect Will Decker.[6]. Swain died in 1903.[7] In 1926, the house was sold to the Andrew Bair Funeral Home [8], who sold it decades later to the Ronald McDonald House.
The Ronald McDonald House provides a home away from home for families of seriously ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals.
The Ronald McDonald House is run by a core group of full time paid employees along with a large rotating staff of volunteers. They provide accommodations for immediate families of those receiving treatment and outpatient patients mostly from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Temple University Hospital, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Wills Eye Institute, and Shriner's Hospital. Stays in the house range from one night to more than a year.