Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 16, 1994 TAG: 9405160051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Their infant was born without fully formed intestines and would need long-term care at Roanoke Community Hospital.
But the Bonds live in Fries, about 100 miles south of Roanoke. They couldn't afford a hotel and didn't have any relatives in the Roanoke area.
Late one night, after they said they would stay in the waiting room of the hospital, a nurse called the Ronald McDonald House of Southwest Virginia.
For the Bonds, at least one of their troubles was over.
Patricia and Terry, along with their three other children, who range in age from 2 to 8, have stayed at the house intermittently throughout the past six weeks.
On Sunday, as the Ronald McDonald House celebrated its 10th anniversary, the Bonds were on hand, along with dozens of other well-wishers.
"After five years you're accomplished and proud," said LuLu Thomas, who sits on the board of directors. "By the 10th year, you're enthusiastic and fine-tuned to the point where you want to honor your guests and your community."
The 18-bedroom, Tudor-style home, which sits at Jefferson and 23rd streets, provides meals and snacks for its guests, which average about 40 a night, Thomas said.
The house is there to provide respite for families dealing with the illness of a child. No one is ever turned away, said Judy Edwards, a manager with the Roanoke house.
Visitors are asked, but not required, to pay a maximum fee of $15 per room a night. The majority of the house's funding comes from donations by local McDonald's restaurants, which keep canisters at their cash registers for customer contributions.
Owners made a commitment of $25,000 a year for the first decade. While that commitment is now complete, local owners rededicated their support of the program on Sunday, by giving the house a $21,213 check, three sets of washers and dryers and 18 new television sets.
The first Ronald McDonald House opened in 1974 in Philadelphia, the idea of Fred and Fran Hill, whose daughter had acute lymphatic leukemia.
Fred Hill, a former tight end with the Philadelphia Eagles, rallied initial support from his teammates. The idea snowballed, he said, with football players in Chicago and Denver establishing other homes in subsequent years.
To date, there are 160 Ronald McDonald Houses around the world, four of them in Virginia.
"It's just hard to believe," Hill said. "It's about the people, it's neighbors helping neighbors."
His daughter Kim, now 27, recently was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Hill said she asked to stay at one of the local Ronald McDonald Houses in southern California where they live during her treatment.
"The house is more than just an inexpensive place to stay," he said. "You have support from people in that house."
The Bonds agree. The house gave them not only a place to stay but also a place where their family could regroup after being apart for much of the week.
"Here, there's an opportunity to be together," Terry Bond said, "and deal with it as a family."
by CNB