FAQs

Ronald McDonald House Charities provides a warm, safe, home-away-from-home when seriously ill or injured children require specialist care and treatment far from their hometowns in regional and rural Australia.

We strive to provide valuable family-centred care that plays a vital role for families while their child receives treatment. Thanks to the community, we provide much-needed holistic support that alleviates the financial and emotional for families while improving their ability to cope.

Funds raised through Gift a Night support over 2,800 families of seriously sick and injured children who rely on the support of Ronald McDonald House Charities Sydney and Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Western Sydney, every year.

Ronald McDonald House Charities Sydney offers support through the Ronald McDonald House in Randwick, Ronald McDonald House Learning Program and Family Rooms in the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Wollongong Hospital and Royal North Shore Hospital.

Ronald McDonald House Charities Greater Western Sydney provides support through the Ronald McDonald House in Westmead, Ronald McDonald House Learning Program, Ronald McDonald Hospitality Cart and the Family Room in Nepean Hospital.

 *The Nepean Family Room is currently closed for renovations and will reopen in the not-too-distant future.

Our Houses are a warm and supportive home-away-from-home for families of children who need to travel to Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick or The Children’s Hospital at Westmead for treatment. We create a safe and welcoming environment where families can remain connected and parents can communicate more easily with their child's medical team.

The Houses provide a community of support, which embraces families and provides the opportunity for sick children, siblings and carers to continue enjoying everyday moments and create memories, together. Our communal kitchen, lounge and laundry facilities also provide families with the independence to cater for themselves and keep up with day-to-day living as much as possible.

Families are offered in-house support during their stay, including home-cooked dinners multiple times a week, school holiday programs and other personal gestures that help make an uncertain and stressful time, a little it easier.

On average, it costs $160 per night to support each family staying at Ronald McDonald House Charities Sydney (in Randwick) and Greater Western Sydney (in Westmead).

For the families staying at the Houses, their entire stay at no cost, to help relieve some of the pressures of being away from home.

In the traditional sense of the word, a night would simply refer to a roof over someone's head for the night, but at Ronald McDonald House, it means so much more to our families.

A night for our families means:

• Supported accommodation at no cost, so families can focus on their sick child
• A network of support through other families, staff and volunteers
• The hospital is a quick 5-minute walk away
• A kitchen full of food, with meals cooked by our supporters three times a week
• In-house education support by qualified teachers
• Access to 40 hours of free tuition when the patient returns home

This opportunity for dollar matching is only possible thanks to our generous Dollar-Matching Partners. Our dedicated partners have pledged various amounts of support to ensure that for 48 hours between 12pm AEST Wednesday 21 August 2024 and finishing 12pm AEST Friday 23 August 2024, all donations will be doubled.

Thank you so much for your incredible support. You can donate directly through our website by clicking here!

Remember, all donations made during the 48 hours (while matched funds last) will be DOUBLED dollar for dollar by our incredible Dollar Matching Partners.

If you have any questions about your donations or would like to donate over the phone, please reach out to our team on supporting.sydney@rmhc.org.au.

Yes, we do.

Of course! We are always happy to help you donate to support the families of seriously sick and injured families. You will be able to donate on the Gift a Night website until 1 September 2024.

Note that your donation may not be matched after 12pm AEST on Friday 23 August 2024.