Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 9, 1993 TAG: 9306090048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The gift comes from Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald's Corp. founder Ray Kroc and a major stockholder in the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company. She has donated a total of 1.2 million shares to the 121 Ronald McDonald Houses, including eight in other parts of the world.
The shares are to be used as endowments for the non-profit houses, which provide temporary lodgings for families with hospitalized children.
"It's not to be used in any form or fashion for capital expenditures," Dallas A. Peoples, president of the board of directors of Roanoke's Ronald McDonald House, said Tuesday. "It's used as an endowment to make sure it remains firm and strong and there."
The stock closed Tuesday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange at $49.25, making the gift worth $492,500.
Interest from the money may be used for operating expenses, Peoples said. But he noted that at current interest rates of between 2 percent and 3 percent, "It doesn't preclude that we don't need donations.
"We don't want anyone to think we won't have to continue our request for funds," said Peoples. The Roanoke House, with 18 rooms, has an annual operating budget of about $300,000 and a nearly full occupancy rate.
"When we first opened, it was hard for us to get those rooms filled. But now . . . our house is becoming totally full," said Peoples.
Although the McDonald's corporation does not provide operating funds for the Ronald McDonald Houses, it authorizes its local owner-operators to support them as much as possible.
Peoples said McDonald's owner-operators as far away as southern West Virginia and Danville help keep the Roanoke house in the black. They were instrumental in a 1992 kitchen expansion of the house, which is leased from Carilion Health System.
Families pay $5 to $15 for a night's lodging, although costs are waived for the needy.
The Associated Press contributed information for this story.
by CNB