Business News
Family feel: Simon Caulton (right) and his partner Anjna Mahey stayed at the house during their daughter Mia’s treatment for leukaemia
Doug Wright
children under care at Birmingham Children’s Hospital will receive a legend’s seal of approval when it celebrates a major milestone this month. Ronald McDonald House, which
is celebrating 10 years in Birmingham, has provided accommodation for nearly 12,000 family stays over the past decade.
‘We try to provide a bit of normality to those whose lives have changed significantly’
This includes local families
and those from as far away as Pakistan whose children have been treated in Birmingham. Chair of Ronald
McDonald House Charities’ board of governors Doug Wright says the facility – which opened on 29 November, 2009 and cost £8.25m to build – was
Legend’s family support is a winner A
By Dan Harrison
charity which has provided a home-from-home to more than 8,000 families with
created to provide a homely environment for families and allow them to be close to their children. Doug said: “We try to create a
similar environment to home. We try to provide a bit of normality to those whose lives have changed significantly.” The charity is marking 10 years in Birmingham with two significant events. The annual gala at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on 8 November will look to surpass last year’s fundraising total of £157,000 – enough to fund 6,280 nights’ stays at a Ronald McDonald House. The house is also welcoming
football legend Sir Geoff Hurst on 29 November for a business lunch and Q&A, which will be attended by Chamber patrons and local dignitaries. World Cup winner Sir Geoff,
a keen advocate of the charity, said: “I’m delighted to be supporting Ronald McDonald House in
Birmingham as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. The charity works extremely hard to provide free
facilities and a homely environment
for families whose children are being cared for at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. “Children in hospital should be
able to have their loved ones close by and the Ronald McDonald House Charities allow this to happen.” It costs the charity just over £25
for a family to stay at Ronald McDonald House for one night – and the average stay is just over a fortnight. Among those who benefited
from the charity’s care and support were Simon Caulton and partner Anjna Mahey when their daughter Mia underwent treatment for infant leukaemia. The Wolverhampton- based couple stayed at the Birmingham house for 242 nights between July 2017 and March 2018. Simon said it allowed them to
“feel like a family again”. “When Mia was diagnosed we
felt totally helpless, lost, broken, out of control and out of our depth,” he said. “The Ronald McDonald House
Charities gave us a new home, some control, independence and hope that we could get through it by making us feel like a family again.” The house’s running costs over
the past decade have surpassed £7m – most of which has been covered by fundraising.
TEN YEARS IN BIRMINGHAM
Doug, whose company Wright
Restaurants (T/A McDonald’s) is a Chamber patron, has expressed his gratitude to the West Midlands business community for embracing the charity. He said: “When I became chair in
2015, I joined the Chamber so that we could link the charity with the West Midlands business community. “We were Birmingham’s best
kept secret and thanks to the Chamber and business community in general we have become well known. We have forged some wonderful, long-standing relationships and gained some fantastic brand ambassadors to whom we are eternally grateful. “We simply couldn’t operate
without the generosity of the people and businesses of the West Midlands.”
November 2019 CHAMBERLINK7
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