Our History
For 25 Years Our Doors Have Always Been Open
Since the day we opened the doors of the Ronald McDonald House in Austin in 1985, we have never closed them. Not for a day, not for an hour. Families depend on us, and we depend on the thousands of people who have supported us faithfully and who continue to support RMHC Austin to ensure that our doors are always open.
The First Ronald McDonald House - Philadelphia, 1974 
In 1974 the first Ronald McDonald House opened its doors in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the time Kim Hill, the daughter of Philadelphia Eagles football player Fred Hill, was undergoing treatment for leukemia. Throughout Kim's treatment, her father recognized the need for a supportive environment away from the hospital for families of seriously ill children. He enlisted the aid of his teammates and local McDonald's restaurant owners to raise funds that would help purchase and renovate the first Ronald McDonald House.
The first Ronald McDonald House was named, not only because of McDonald's fund-raising support but also for the positive, hopeful, and fun-loving feeling Ronald McDonald was able to instill into the minds of so many children.
Today there are nearly 300 Ronald McDonald Houses located world-wide. Every Ronald McDonald House is autonomous and is owned by a not-for-profit corporation in the city where it is located.
The History of The Ronald McDonald House in Austin
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas became licensed and incorporated in 1983 and began providing lodging and support services to families of critically ill and injured children in February 1985. The first Ronald McDonald House had 8 rooms and a staff of one.
In 1989 The Ronald McDonald House moved to the corner of 15th and Trinity and expanded to 13 rooms. Thousands of families stayed in this House in its eighteen years of operation next to University Medical Center, Brackenridge.
When Children's Hospital of Austin made plans to move from its location in Brackenridge to the new Mueller Development several miles north, the Board and leadership of RMHC Austin determined it was critically important to build a new House to be near the new pediatric medical center.
Healthy House for Healthy Children - 2007
In December 2007 the new Ronald McDonald House opened next door to Dell Children's Medical Center and more than doubled in capacity, to 30 suites including a number of new amenities for our families.
Because the entire Mueller Development, where the House is located, follows green building principles, and because the medical center was being built to US Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, the Ronald McDonald House followed green building practices as well. As a result, Austin's Ronald McDonald House is the first LEED Platinum certified Ronald McDonald House in the world. By building a green House, we also built a healthy House for our children and families.
RMHC Austin currently provides lodging and support services to over 1000 families each year through the Ronald McDonald House and the Ronald McDonald Family Room.
Ronald McDonald Family Room
St. David's North Austin Medical Center 
The first Ronald McDonald Family Room opened in 1992 in Kansas City, but it wasn't until 2009 that Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas built it's first Ronald McDonald Family Room. Steps away from the neonatal intensive unit at St. David's North Austin Medical Center, families find refuge inside the Ronald McDonald Family Room while their loved ones receive the care they need. Staffed by volunteers, the room is open from 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week.
To learn more, or to find out how you can get involved, visit the Ronald McDonald Family Room page.