26 Mar Mission. Leadership. Excellence.

We all can agree that 2020 provided unexpected and unprecedented challenges. At RMHC® SWFL, we also felt COVID-19’s impact when, in March of 2020, safety considerations compelled us to temporarily suspend both our Ronald McDonald House® and the Ronald McDonald Family Room® at Golisano Children’s Hospital, and curtail normal Ronald McDonald Care Mobile® operations. It was heartbreaking, but necessary. Yet despite the uncertainty, in 2020 we celebrated some wonderful successes as well!

To better serve families, we finished our multi-million dollar House Expansion Project – funded entirely by our donors’ generosity – which has doubled our capacity from six to twelve bedrooms. We achieved the goals set out in our RMHC SWFL 2018-2020 Strategic Plan, which included completing the House expansion, increasing marketing efforts to educate our communities about our charity’s programs, and strengthening relationships with existing and new philanthropic partners.

We begin this year with hope and enthusiasm. We have begun work on our 2021-2024 Strategic Plan, with a renewed focus on our values, mission, and vision. We look forward to enhancing the support and services RMHC SWFL provides to children and families. We are forever grateful for our partnership with the McDonald’s Owner/Operators in our region, as well as our many other faithful donors and volunteers. Such long-standing commitment to and support for RMHC makes the important work we do possible.

The Board and Staff heralded an important milestone last month as we began executing our four-phase reentry plan and started welcoming families back to the House at 25% capacity. While continuing to ensure maximum safety for all, we are optimistic that we will be able to resume 100% of our programs very soon, in accordance with RHMC Global and CDC guidelines.

On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, most importantly, we thank you for your incredible, continued support.

Susan Ryckman, President