There are moments in life when you’re reminded how quickly everything can change.
How a single phone call, a diagnosis, or an unexpected turn can shift your entire world. And in those moments, what people need most isn’t advice, or solutions, or even perspective.
They need a refuge, a sanctuary, a soft place to land.
Recently, Oilers hockey legend and all-around remarkable human Kevin Lowe asked if I would help support a campaign to raise $45 million for a new Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton.
I didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Here’s why it matters
The Ronald McDonald House supports families whose children are receiving medical care at hospitals like the Stollery Children’s Hospital. Many of those families travel from across Western Canada.
When a family can’t access the House due to limited capacity, they often spend more than $7,000 on hotels and meals and personal care services during their stay, not including flights or lost income.
And here’s the surprising part:
Zero percent of the Ronald McDonald House’s operating funding comes from government. About 25% comes from McDonald’s.
The rest comes from donors, supported by an army of dedicated volunteers; including my good friends pictured here making a meal for 50 families the other night.
Right now, the Edmonton house has just 37 rooms and can only meet about 14% of the demand.
Which means many families, facing the most difficult moment of their lives, don’t have access to the support they need.
Years ago, while travelling in Berlin with Ted Kouri, we joined a walking tour led by a man named Terry. It was appropriately called “Terry’s Tour”.
At one point we passed a group of people huddled around a small fire trying to stay warm.
Terry paused and said something I’ve never forgotten.
He said that when we see something in the world that feels appalling, we should pay attention to it.
Not look away.
Not rationalize it.
But notice it… and, when we can, do something about it.
There are many moments in life that ask something of us.
This is one of them.
Because none of us are as far from needing help as we might think…
When a mother has a sick child and has to leave her home, her routines, her support system, nothing else really matters anymore. In that moment, she doesn’t need much.
Just a soft place to land.
Which is why we’re working to build something new.
A Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton with more than 100 rooms next to the new Stollery Children's Hospital, with meals, quiet spaces, and support services for families who need them most.
A place where parents can focus on the only thing that matters: their child.
A place that offers, in the hardest of moments, a little bit of stability, normality, dignity. A refuge. A sanctuary.
If you feel compelled to help, I hope you’ll consider supporting the Ronald McDonald House.