Senate Bill 2694

    Florida Senate - 1999        (NP)                      SR 2694

    By Senator Burt





    16-2038-99                                         See HR 9103

  1                    Senate Resolution No.     

  2         A resolution in recognition of Ronald McDonald

  3         House Charities.

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  5         WHEREAS, Ronald McDonald House is a temporary lodging

  6  facility for the families of seriously ill children being

  7  treated at nearby hospitals, and

  8         WHEREAS, the first Ronald McDonald House opened in

  9  Philadelphia in 1974 as the result of the perseverance and

10  dedication of Fred Hill, then a Philadelphia Eagles football

11  player, who, when his 3-year-old daughter Kim was diagnosed

12  with leukemia and underwent treatment at the local children's

13  hospital, camped out with his wife on hospital chairs and

14  benches, ate food from vending machines, and did all they

15  could to keep their daughter from seeing their sadness,

16  exhaustion, and frustration, and

17         WHEREAS, all around them, the Hills saw other parents

18  doing the same thing and learned that many of the families had

19  traveled great distances to bring their children to the

20  medical facility, only to find the high cost of hotel rooms

21  prohibitive, and

22         WHEREAS, very few institutions at that time provided

23  sufficient accommodations for such families, and, determined

24  to help other families experiencing the same emotional and

25  financial traumas as his own, Hill rallied the support of his

26  teammates to raise funds to help remedy the situation, and

27         WHEREAS, the Philadelphia Eagles organization offered

28  its support to Dr. Audrey Evans, head of the pediatric

29  oncology unit at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, whose

30  dream for a house to serve as temporary residence for families

31  of children being treated at her hospital, along with the

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1999        (NP)                      SR 2694
    16-2038-99                                         See HR 9103




  1  efforts of Fred Hill and the McDonald's Corporation, led to

  2  the first Ronald McDonald House, and

  3         WHEREAS, Hill enlisted the help of his teammates and

  4  the local McDonald's restaurant franchisees to raise funds to

  5  purchase and renovate the first Ronald McDonald House, and

  6         WHEREAS, when this unlikely partnership was formed

  7  between an NFL team, a children's hospital, and a restaurant

  8  chain, none of its members could have imagined that their

  9  dream of a "home-away-from-home" for families of seriously ill

10  children would grow to become an international phenomenon, and

11         WHEREAS, by 1979, ten more Ronald McDonald Houses had

12  opened; in the next five years, local communities founded an

13  additional 60 Houses; and 53 more opened in the next five

14  years, and

15         WHEREAS, today, there are 195 Ronald McDonald Houses

16  open in 16 countries, with more than 3,000 bedrooms available

17  for families every night and, by the end of 1999, ten new

18  Houses will open, including the first Houses in Hungary,

19  Malaysia, and Mexico, for a total of 205 Ronald McDonald

20  Houses in 18 countries, and

21         WHEREAS, each Ronald McDonald House is run by a local

22  nonprofit organization comprised of members of the medical

23  community, business and civic leaders, parent/volunteers, and

24  McDonald's owners/operators, supported by nearly 20,000

25  volunteers who annually donate over one million hours of their

26  time, providing the backbone of the program and helping with

27  all aspects of House operations, including fundraising,

28  program development, and services to families, and

29         WHEREAS, Ronald McDonald House is the cornerstone

30  program of Ronald McDonald House Charities, a not-for-profit

31  organization that, to date, through its global network of

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1999        (NP)                      SR 2694
    16-2038-99                                         See HR 9103




  1  local charities, has awarded nearly $200 million in grants to

  2  children's programs worldwide, and

  3         WHEREAS, since 1974, having served more than two

  4  million family members whose children are receiving medical

  5  treatment for cancer, heart disease, organ failure, neonatal

  6  complications, burns, and major accidents, Ronald McDonald

  7  House has created a place where parents can be with families

  8  who understand each other's situations and can provide

  9  emotional support and, in so doing, has rendered a service of

10  tremendous compassion for millions of people in this nation

11  and abroad, NOW, THEREFORE,

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13  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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15         That the Florida Senate recognizes and commends Ronald

16  McDonald House Charities for a quarter of a century of

17  exceptional humanitarian service.

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