To meet the evolving needs of families, Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Central New York (RMHC® of CNY) has embarked on a $1 million expansion of the CNY Ronald McDonald House to create new family suites. The organization will renovate more than 9,000 square feet of unfinished space on the fourth floor of the House, adding six new family suites to increase the capacity of the home and enable the nonprofit to better accommodate large and multigenerational guest families.
“For more than 40 years, the CNY Ronald McDonald House has been a place of love and support for families facing the unthinkable. While that will never change, we recognize that the needs of our guest families are growing, and so our House must too,” said Beth Trunfio, executive director, RMHC of CNY. “We’re excited to build out our fourth floor with new family suites that will enable us to keep even more families comfortable and close when it matters most.”
The fourth floor will feature four one-bedroom suites and two two-bedroom suites – providing a total of 14 beds to accommodate more guests. In addition to bedrooms, the suites will include private kitchenettes, bathrooms and living rooms. The floor will also feature shared laundry facilities.
The six new suites will enable the nonprofit to offer more family-centered spaces to large and multigenerational families while giving working parents and family members a designated space to work remotely during their stay. Additionally, the suites will provide a private living space to families with children who are immunocompromised.
“When a family stays with us, parents, grandparents and siblings often stay at the House in order to remain together,” said Trunfio. “Our new family suites will help us to better serve those families, while increasing our capacity so that we may continue to serve even more families in need in the years ahead – especially as local hospitals continue to expand their services and future population growth is expected in the area.”
The CNY Ronald McDonald House serves as a temporary home for families with seriously ill children who travel to Syracuse for medical care. The House provides guest families with the convenience of a comfortable room and warm bed, home-cooked meals and snacks and support and compassion – all at no charge to the families – while keeping them close to Syracuse-area hospitals and medical centers. In the first six months of 2023 alone, 415 family members stayed at the CNY Ronald McDonald House for a total of 1,782 nights.
Construction on the expansion project is expected to begin this fall and will be managed by Zausmer-Frisch Scruton & Aggarwal, who designed and built the CNY Ronald McDonald House in 2011-2012.
