How Did the Ronald McDonald Houses Start?
Ronald McDonald Houses started in 1973 with a three-year-old girl. The girl, Kim Hill, daughter of Philadelphia Eagles football player Fred Hill, was receiving treatment for leukemia at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Determined to do something to benefit families using Children’s Hospital, Hill and his Eagles’ teammates approached Kim’s physician, Dr. Audrey Evans, Head haematologist/oncologist. Dr. Evans expressed the serious need for a home facility near the hospital. This led to a joint fundraising effort with the Philadelphia area McDonald’s Restaurant owners which, in turn, resulted in the purchase and renovation of an older, seven bedroom home near the hospital. The Philadelphia House opened in 1974. After the 1975 opening of the second Ronald McDonald House in Chicago, a group of Toronto-based parents of children with oncology related illness went to Chicago to visit the House. These parents, along with representatives from the Hospital for Sick Children and local McDo
