The Ronald McDonald House program was built on the simple idea that nothing else should matter when a family is focused on healing their child – not where they can afford to stay, where they will get their next meal, or where they will lay their head at night to rest. For the past 36 years, Ronald McDonald House of Dallas has been doing exactly that. Since opening the doors in 1981, over 38,000 families have been provided a “home-away-from-home” in the times when they need it most.

The initial Ronald McDonald House of Dallas was the project of Children’s Oncology Services of Texas, Inc., a non-profit Texas corporation comprised of parents, doctors, administrators, and Dallas/Ft. Worth McDonald’s Owner Operators and headed by Dr. Jo Ann Cornet of the Hematology-Oncology Division of the Children’s Medical Center. Located on land donated by St. Paul Medical Center through the generosity of the Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul, RMHD opened its doors in 1981 with a capacity to serve 10 families. This was in large part due to the philanthropic endeavors of Sandra Estess, Chairman of the first capital campaign and Peggy S. Hill, who was Chair of the 1980 Crystal Charity Ball when RMHD was named the sole beneficiary.

Since the initial House was built, RMHD has gone through 4 major expansions. In 1985, RMHD was expanded to serve 20 families. The second expansion, in 1994, allowed the House to serve 30 families. In 2007, UT Southwestern (UTSW) needed to expand and asked Ronald McDonald House if they could purchase the land where the initial RMHD sat. In late 2007, RMHD kicked off a capital campaign entitled “Beacon of Hope” to build a new Ronald McDonald House. In April 2008, a groundbreaking ceremony and construction for the new House began. The Beacon of Hope capital campaign raised 24 million dollars for the building of the new House, which opened in 2009 with the capacity to serve 58 families. In 2016, RMHD was turning away up to 30 families every day due to lack of space, so it was decided another expansion was needed. The $11.5 million Capital Campaign ended in 2019 thanks to a generous gift from AbbVie, totaling $4.5 million – the largest gift ever given to RMHD. The Dekelboum Family Foundation Wing was opened on October 10, 2019 and includes 24 standard rooms and 6 long-term stay suites. With the 2019 expansion, RMHD has 89 total rooms, a splash pad, new playground equipment and various other updates around the House. Through all of the expansions, the operation budget has greatly increased, landing at nearly $3.4 million a year.

The idea of a “home-away-from-home” for families of seriously ill or injured children was embraced fully by the Dallas community from the initial concept. Today, RMHD continues to be the only agency in Dallas that provides this vital service and remains debt-free to this day. Because of the generosity of the Dallas community, RMHD is able to keep families close to the hospital and close to each other.