RMHC-CNI Celebrates 45 Years of Serving Families

In 2022, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana celebrates 45 years of helping families get better together.

For four and a half decades, Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana has helped more than 100,000 families stay together with their hospitalized children.

Our first house in Chicago and the second in the world, opened in 1977. Charlie Marino and Ed Baum, MD conceived the idea to open the first Ronald McDonald House in Chicago on Deming Place when Charlie’s daughter Gage was receiving treatment at Children’s Memorial. Charlie experienced first-hand that the need for housing for families with sick children was critical.

To help open the house, they rallied support from McDonald’s Operators of Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana (MOCNI) and Bill Chunowitz, MOCNI President at that time, to provide funding. The new Ronald McDonald House welcomed the Morrisey family as its first guests in 1977. Since then, our programs have grown as families of children with complex medical issues continue to need comfort and care.

This year, we celebrate and honor our 45 years of history and the families, volunteers, staff, donors, and partners who have been essential to fulfilling our mission: We exist so families can get better together.