Our Purpose
Caring for families with children who are ill or injured.

Our Vision
A world where every family has what they need to ensure the best health outcomes for their children.

Our Mission
Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Southwest Florida provides essential services that remove barriers, strengthen families, and promote healing when children need healthcare.

Our Values

We lead with compassion

We are exceptional at caring. It’s simply how we are. Our determination to provide the best care for families is based in sincere and deep empathy and a unique understanding of their needs. Our sense of care drives our desire to be there for families when it matters, especially in the most challenging moments.

We are deeply respectful

No two families are the same, but everyone is welcome at Ronald McDonald House, no matter who they are and what they need; it’s why we meet families where they are. We feel honored to be trusted to support families when their children are ill or injured. It’s a trust we repay through our deep respect for every family we serve and for each other.

We act with integrity

We are proud of the way our people show up. We are humbled by the trust our families, donors, hospital and healthcare partners and others place in us. It’s why we will always act professionally and with accountability for our actions, in all that we do.

We are firmly committed

Once a Ronald McDonald House family, always a part of the Ronald McDonald House family. It’s why we’re always willing to go the extra mile to ensure families have what they need. We’re agile, flexible and innovative because we will never give up on the families who need us.

We provide impact through three core programs:

• The Ronald McDonald House® provides lodging, meals, and other supportive services to families of seriously ill or injured children receiving medical treatment at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida or other local medical facilities.
• The Ronald McDonald Family Room® is located at Golisano Children’s Hospital and provides families and caretakers with bagged lunches, beverages, snacks, laundry facilities, and more in a relaxing environment.
• The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile® provides dental and medical care through our partnership with two healthcare providers for underserved children. Of the 38 RMHC Care Mobile programs worldwide, we proudly have two serving our community.

How it all began for RMHC® of Southwest Florida

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Florida was created by a community of like-minded individuals who came together in the late 1980s. The community proposed the idea of raising funds to build a Ronald McDonald House near The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida. Spearheaded by the Frederic family and other local McDonald’s restaurant owners/operators, the group began raising the funds necessary to make their dream a reality. The collected funds were held, in trust, by the Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities of South Florida, located in Miami.

In 1991, the Ronald McDonald House of Southwest Florida was incorporated. Five years later, in August of 1996, the doors of the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in SWFL were open to children and their families.

As the permanent population of families with children increased, the RMH Board of Directors felt the importance of having local control of programs and funds. This way, they could ensure that children and families of Southwest Florida would benefit exponentially from the program.

In September of 2003, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Florida became incorporated as a 501(C) 3 Non-Profit Organization.

RMHC of Southwest Florida continues to enjoy the support of a caring community that includes a volunteer Board of Directors and Advisory Council, local McDonald’s owner/operators, corporate sponsors, community groups, individual donors, professional staff, and many wonderful volunteers. All the stakeholders work tirelessly and have become an integral part of the RMHC family.