A HOME AWAY FROM HOME
How the Ronald McDonald House is growing to serve more families
Located just blocks away from UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital, the Ronald McDonald House provides families a place to stay for little to no cost as they travel to Gainesville to seek medical care for their seriously ill or injured children.
The 31-bedroom house provides beds, homecooked meals and all the comforts of home to families who, on average, stay for about 94 days. The families are also able to find community there — providing moral support for one another as they all navigate through stressful and challenging times.
“It’s truly more than just a home away from home,” said Sherry Houston, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida. “We become a support system of every family who walks through our door.”
The house is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and serves around 1,000 families annually from not only Florida, but 48 states and 35 countries — all so they can be near their child as they receive care at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital. According to Houston, the house is at 100% occupancy 365 days a year and maintains a running waitlist.
“We are the oasis for UF Health’s pediatric families so they can stay close to their child in the hospital,” she added. “I like to think that we are the wind beneath UF Health’s wings. If there was not a Ronald McDonald House, families would be going between hotels and they would not have the camaraderie of families going through what they are going through.”

In order to help more families, the program is moving to a new location just a block away from the current Ronald McDonald House. The new location will allow the facility to accommodate a total of 50 guest suites — an expansion that will allow the program to care for an additional 19 families at a time.
“We have between 50 to 100 of UF Health’s pediatric families on our waitlist at any given time,” Houston said. “So, we knew that the need was so great.”
Construction began at the beginning of January 2023 and Houston said they expect to be in the new 44,000-square-foot facility by August. The construction budget is $4.4 million and Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida is aiming to raise $2.4 million for additional renovations.
To learn more about the new house or ways to contribute, visit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida website.