Peoria’s planned Ronald McDonald House will help ‘ease the burden’ for families

By Elise Zwicky For Chronicle Media

From left, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois chief executive officer Kelly Thompson, Farnsworth Group project leader Jeremy Collins and Dax Foundation founder Julie Locke Moore playfully toss dirt with their shovels at the Sept. 17 groundbreaking of a Ronald McDonald House being built in downtown Peoria. (Photo courtesy of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois)

While residing in the Chicago suburbs, Adam and Christine Simmons spent months living at a Ronald McDonald House while their infant son, Bowden, battled an immune disorder and cancer.

After Bowden lost his battle to the disease in August 2016, the couple and their young daughter, Harper, moved back to the Peoria area and looked for a local Ronald McDonald House to support.

“I couldn’t find a Ronald McDonald House to contribute to after living in one for so long. I was actually angry about it,” Adam said, describing how he emailed Kelly Thompson, chief executive officer of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois. “She responded with such great care and thoughtfulness and compassion.”

What Simmons didn’t know at the time was that a medical feasibility study completed in 2015 through the University of Illinois showed a significant need for a charity house in this area and work was underway to meet that need.

The couple eventually joined a 25-member committee dedicated to making the Peoria house a reality, and both were on hand last month at a groundbreaking for the $7 million project, tentatively scheduled to open next fall.

“I’m thrilled to watch this house being built and we’re looking forward to all the good it’s going to do in central Illinois,” Adam Simmons said at the groundbreaking on Sept. 17.

The four-story, 40,000-square-foot facility is under construction at the corner of Spalding Avenue and NE Monroe Street in Peoria’s medical district. With 22 private bedrooms and bathrooms, the house will serve about 700 families annually, Thompson said. Amenities will include a full-service kitchen, playgrounds, laundry facilities, a community room, arts and crafts room and free parking.

The Peoria RMH will serve families with children receiving care at any medical facility, including OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois and UnityPoint Health. River City Construction is the project manager.

The Peoria facility will join 300 Ronald McDonald houses in 30 countries, including one in Springfield and five in the Chicago area. Thanks to community donations, families do not pay to stay at the houses.

“Peoria is a giving community that always comes together for initiatives like this that at the end of the day are going to help people that really need it,” said Mayor Jim Ardis.

Julie Locke Moore, founder of the Dax Foundation and co-chair of the Peoria Ronald McDonald House capital campaign committee with McDonald’s owner/operator Terry Clark, said, “Setting this dream into motion has been so life-giving for me.”

Moore’s son, Dax Locke, died of leukemia at 2 years old in 2009. The family’s efforts to cherish every moment led them to put up Christmas lights at their Washington home before Halloween that year in case their son didn’t make it to Christmas. Their effort was reported by the media and led to thousands of people around the world putting up early Christmas lights that year in honor of the little boy.

Rendering by the Farnsworth Group of the Peoria Ronald McDonald House that’s being built on the corner of Spalding Avenue and NE Monroe Street. Tentatively scheduled to open next fall, the 40,000-square-foot facility will have 22 private bedrooms and bathrooms and will serve about 700 families annually. (Photo courtesy of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois)

The mission of the Dax Foundation is to help families and children of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other families in need. The foundation is sponsoring a Dax wing on the second floor of the Peoria RMH to help pediatric cancer patients.

“Today we are changing history for Peoria,” Moore said. “Families will walk into this house with big burdens. It’s a heaviness that is incomparable. Now our community will be here to pour out love on these families.”

Christine Simmons shared how the Ronald McDonald House she and her husband stayed at in Chicago helped ease their pain during their son’s illness. “While most of our time was spent with Bowden at the hospital, we were in the house frequently, and the staff became like family to us,” she said. “The house always provided us with meals, a warm bed and a refreshing shower. These things seem trivial, but when your days are made up of conversations about blood transfusions and bad reactions to chemotherapy drugs, these small comforts help maintain your balance.”

Thompson said the Peoria RMH will create 12 to 14 jobs and will provide hundreds of volunteer opportunities. Brian Replogle, who has been the Springfield Ronald McDonald House director, has been named director of the new Peoria house.

“We’ll probably need a pool of about 50 volunteers to help in guest services positions, and then we’ll need hundreds of people that will help provide meals and keep the building in great shape,” Thompson added. Anyone interested in volunteering in Peoria can call (309) 401-2525 or email Thompson at kt@rmhc-centralillinois.org.

Donations are also needed to complete the Peoria RMH project. The research-based biopharmaceutical company AbbVie has donated $100 million to Ronald McDonald House Charities, $3.3 million of which will go toward building the Peoria house. After other donations, the charity is currently working on raising the final $1.5 million needed to complete the project.

The Dax Foundation will host a fundraising gala for the project on Nov. 9 at the Warehouse on State. Former Chicago Bears cornerback Charles Tillman, a recipient of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, will be the keynote speaker. Tickets are $75 each or $500 for a table of eight.

Donors can also purchase a brick that will be part of a brick pathway leading to the building’s front door designed by the Farnsworth Group. Bricks can be personalized and come in two sizes: 8×8 for a $2,500 donation or 4×8 for a $500 donation.

Another way to donate is to host a personal fundraiser by gathering sponsorships for events such as juggling, running or jumping rope at a platform called Raise Love. More information on that can be found at www.rmhc.org/raise-love.

For more information about the Peoria Ronald McDonald House, visit the website www.rmhc-centralillinois.org.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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