New Ronald McDonald House to open

Art Nadler

Monday, June 29, 1998 | 11:43 a.m.

Parents of seriously ill children have just found a safe haven.

The Ronald McDonald House, 2323 Potosi St., is scheduled to accommodate its first family July 6.

The $3.7 million Spanish-style home, built with community support and funding, will offer 12 bedrooms, a kitchen and dining facilities, a small library and washing facilities for parents in outlying areas whose children are being treated in local hospitals.

The charge will be $10 a night, but no one will be turned away if they can't afford this fee.

"People sleep in their car, the lobby of hospitals or on the floor in hospitals," said Emma Addis, executive director of the Las Vegas house. "Now they will be able to come over here and interact with people like them," she said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning.

The Las Vegas McDonald House took eight years to fund and complete. It will service parents as far away as Mesquite, Pahrump, Laughlin and Kingman. Parents living in the Las Vegas area will not be eligible for room and board.

The Las Vegas Ronald McDonald House is one of more than 190 around the world. It will service such children as those receiving treatment at University Medical Center's Burn Center, neonatal units from all the hospitals, organ transplant patients, etc.

The local McDonald's Owners Operators Association kicked off funding for the project by donating $700,000. Community support has made the facility debt-free.

It's estimated that $200,000 a year will be needed to maintain the facility.

Several household and food items are still badly needed.

For information or to donate, call 252-HOME (4663).