Fundraising event underway to help Ronald McDonald Family Room at EIRMC

IDAHO FALLS — A three-day fundraising event kicked off Monday to help support local families and parents with ill or injured children.

“Fundraising for Families” is in its third year and is meant to raise money for The Family Room at Eastern Idaho Medical Center. The goal is to bring in $60,000 to support Ronald McDonald House Charities, a nonprofit organization.

“This is our largest fundraising event in eastern Idaho and it is to support the mission we have to keep families with sick or injured children close when they have a medical need,” said Lori Priest, a spokeswoman with Ronald McDonald House Charities. “We have served about 1,200 families since we opened in September 2019 and we want to be able to be there and continue to be there for families to come.”

The Family Room is located inside EIRMC and provides families with a home-like environment where they can get something to eat, take a shower, do laundry, watch television, take a nap, or even stay the night. It allows parents to stay close to their sick child without leaving the hospital.

Any family with a sick child at EIRMC is able to use The Family Room, whether they live right in Idaho Falls or have traveled from another area, Priest says.
 
Priest added there is no cost for families to use the Ronald McDonald family room and generous donations from the community make it possible.

The fundraiser runs until March 16.

Here’s how you can donate:

• Make a gift of support online. Click here.
• Send a check in support of the event to the Ronald McDonald Family Room (3200 Channing Way, Ste 106, Idaho Falls, ID 83404).
•  Host your own peer-to-peer fundraising campaign to build awareness and raise funds through your own network. Click here.
• Help by spreading the word and share social media posts in support of the event.

“At the Ronald McDonald family room, we offer a home away from home for parents who are there with their child who are receiving medical treatment and we want to be able to provide them a safe, comfortable place that they can have and utilize as they need to,” Priest said.

The Petersen family from Rexburg spent 21 nights in the Ronald McDonald Family Room.

“When our son was hospitalized for three weeks due to a life-threatening injury, the Ronald McDonald Room at EIRMC helped us in unimaginable ways. We were provided a room to stay in so my husband and I could more easily take turns being with our son. It was nice to have a bed to sleep in and get better quality of sleep, especially knowing getting back to his room would only take a few minutes if our son’s status changed instead of the 45 minutes it would have taken driving from Rexburg,” the Petersen family wrote.

Presented by EIRMC, and with support from other local area sponsors, a pool of nearly $30,000 in matching funds has been made available to help raise the $60,000 goal supporting RMHC of Idaho.

Priest said she is grateful for those who have donated and continue to.

“We have been absolutely amazed and truly appreciative of all of the support that we have been given,” she said.