13th April 2021

19th March 2021

5th March 2021

18th February 2021

5th February 2021

21st January 2021

4th December 2020

20th November 2020

11th November 2020

29th October 2020

9th October 2020

Huge thanks and congratulations to all our March fundraisers!

431 Nights

of free accommodation will be provided to families in need thanks to fundraising in March 🎉

Hengrove's 908 Mile Challenge
Throughout March, the Manager's at Hengrove McDonald's took on 908 miles (their store number) to help raise vital funds for our home from home!

They completely smashed their fundraising target, raising an amazing £972, providing 27 nights for a family in need.

"We are supporting RMH Bristol as they provide a unique service to the area which is very much needed by many families. We have an employee whose family have benefitted directly from the houses support and on many of the events we have attended ran by the house we have seen and heard what this support means to individuals and families. During the pandemic we want to ensure this support continues to be there for those who need it."

Bideford's Sponsored Walk
On 21st March the Bideford dining room team took on a 10 mile walk, complete with bunny ears, to help support our house and families.

Together they raised an amazing £459.83, providing 13 nights for a family in need.

Tiverton's Easter Raffle
The team at the Tiverton store held a fantastic Easter raffle, including prizes from local businesses and lots of chocolate treats!

In total, they raised an amazing £1,048, providing 30 nights for a family in need.

Mad March Mile
Throughout March, 317 people took on a mile a day to help support families in need from across the South West.

Not only did they have more participants than ever, they also raised more than ever before! Together, the Mad March Milers raised an amazing £4,442.64, providing 127 nights for families in need.

RMHB Step Challenge
Throughout February and March we've had 33 amazing people take on our 300,000 step challenge in 30 days!

In total, they've raised over £8,150 so far providing 232 nights for families in need.

We are so happy to have these amazing women join our Ambassador team.

Karen, Wiltshire
"Back in September 2008, the 18th to be exact, I gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Grace. She was born at St Michael’s hospital in Bristol, then after a few hours she was transferred to Bristol Children’s Hospital. None of this was a surprise, at our 20 week scan we were told the baby had a heart condition and would probably need surgery very soon after birth. The 19th little Grace had her op, she had an aortic stenosis repair and it went well. Now Grace had to do the hard work and get better. 

Later that day one of the midwives told me there was a phone call for me. It was Ronald McDonald House saying they had a room for me. Now at this point I’d never heard of RMH but was incredibly grateful them and the intensive care nurse who informed them of our need. I know I’d popped some coins in the collection pots by the till in McDonald’s restaurants, but never really knew what it was for. Saying that, the Bristol house is now independent, so they receive no money from McDonald’s.

RMH was an absolute godsend, staying in a hotel would of cost us £100’s, driving back and forth would have been mentally and physically draining.

After a few small hiccups, Grace was discharged after 2weeks, so we could all go home.

March 2019 saw us back at BCH. Grace needed further heart surgery. She spent two weeks in intensive care, much of which she was attached to an external pacemaker. All very scary times for us all, but RMH Bristol came up trumps for us again. Believe it or not we had the same room as 10 years before! Grace was fitted with a permanent pacemaker and after a stressful two weeks, we were allowed home. Having a place to retreat to at the end of a long day in intensive care was a godsend."

Lesley, Swindon
"9 years ago, I was in Bristol while my son Riley was in intensive care. Even though I only lived 40 minutes away, being alone, praying for my son to survive, I felt like I was million miles away, and put in to the strangest bubble and completely isolated.

I was very lucky to get to stay in the home, they really did make me feel welcome, not alone, it really is a home from home. They had food in cupboards, toiletries, everything you needed. They took the essential worries away from me, so I could be with my son.

Knowing what we raise and give to the house, is nothing to what they have done for me, in the time I needed their help. They were amazing.x"

Karen, Lesley and their families have been amazing supporters of the house over the years, helping us in so many ways. We are honoured to have rooms in the house dedicated to both Grace and Riley and can't thank Karen and Lesley enough for all they do for us.

“As a family, we started our 6 month long journey of life changing events in May 2010, when our daughter, Nicole, was admitted into Bristol Royal Hospital for Children with a very rare illness. We were very fortunate to be offered a room at the Ronald McDonald House, which was a stones throw away.
This room became our safe haven, a place to relax and be calm for a bit, lie down on an actual bed, to cook a meal and gather strength to carry on with hospital life. The staff at the Ronald McDonald House were on hand to help or just listen. They offered us normalcy, which when spending hour upon hour in hospital, seems like only a dream.
When Nicole was better and able to leave hospital, we felt that a simple Thank You, however heartfelt, just wouldn’t convey how lucky we were to have been given a room. So we decided to become monthly donors to this very worthwhile and needed charity. Over the years, our donations have enabled many families to stay in a room here, to be near their child, without having the worry of where to stay or travelling back and forth every day.
A massive Thank You to Frankie Burrows and the amazing team, without you and this marvellous home from home, we would have found ourselves in a very difficult situation.
We are very honoured to be given the opportunity of naming a room and we have called it, Nicole’s Haven, because the room we were lucky to have, became a haven for us.”

Thank you so much for your incredible support 

If you'd like to know more about monthly donations click here.

Check out these amazing fundraisers from last month.

Mike's Virtual Half Marathon
On 8th February Mike took on his first half marathon for our home from home! Mike took up running when he quit smoking and set himself the goal of running a half marathon as his motivation.

Despite the snow he made an excellent time and completely smashed his fundraising target, raising an amazing £335 covering 9 nights for a family in need.

"I decided to quit my 50 a day smoking habit and have been trying to get healthy ever since. With multiple lockdowns its been tough on many peoples mental health and I've found running is a great release from the issues we face daily at the moment."

Roundswell's 500 mile Challenge
Throughout February a team of 21 from Roundswell McDonald's took on over 500 miles to help support our house and families.

Together they raised an amazing £583 and providing 16 nights for a family in need.

Check out these amazing fundraisers from last month.

Rachel's 5k a Day
Throughout January Rachel set herself the enormous challenge of running 5k a day! This is a fantastic achievement and a truly unique way to commemorate her 30th Birthday.

Rachel raised an amazing £410 providing 11 nights for a family in need.

"I wanted to combat this negativity with some positivity, so I set myself the challenge to run 5k a day in January. I'm glad to have been able to raise money for such a great cause."

Incito's #1kclub
Throughout January, and until the 8th February, Amanda and Paul set their staff the challenge of getting outside and taking on 1k for their mental wellbeing. They make a donation for each member of staff who took on this challenge, and more if they did it twice!

205 people took part in the #1kclub raising an amazing £538 and providing 15 nights for a family in need.

"The 1k challenge is so simple, non-intimidating and inclusive. It gave me the extra push to go out and get some fresh air and headspace. I knew it would make me feel a bit better, but it had a huge impact. It helped me laugh with my daughters, helped me sleep better and started the ball rolling to actively look for the positives."

Meet Jess! Our newest community ambassador.

"Hi I’m Jess, married to Ash with 4 children and a sausage dog called Ronald! Ronald McDonald House Bristol holds a very special place in our hearts. In 2018 we were admitted to Bristol children’s hospital with our oldest son Oliver, who suddenly was unable to walk.
It was a whirlwind of scary emotions. We live in Gloucester, at the time I was pregnant with our youngest child and we had 2 other children at home. We had so many uncertainties, like most families who find themselves in this situation...how long would we be in Bristol? Were we going to have to travel backwards and forwards? How would we afford all this?
Then in the midst of all the questions we found out about Ronald McDonald House Bristol and were offered a room and I remember the relief we felt. It lifted a lot of the pressure and worries and was such a blessing to us, we could then just focus on and always be close to our poorly child.
It is just the best place and so essential for families that find themselves in this horrible situation. I remember going to bed there one night and reading a flyer about fundraising for them, I decided in that moment that I would always do my best to raise money for them anyway I could so that they could always continue to do the wonderful work that they do.
As a family we decided to try and focus on several different fundraisers a year to support them as much as we could and to pay our time there forward for other families.
We have had parties, cake sales, raffles, a sponsored walk and big shop and have been totally overwhelmed with the support we have received with our fundraising.
We have more exciting fundraising ideas planned for this coming year and count it a real privilege to be able to give back to a charity that was there for us when we needed it the most."

Thank you so much Jess for all you do for us, we're so happy to have you on board as an Ambassador 

Huge thanks to all who donated and supported our house this past Christmas!

The wonderful Thom has completed his Country Walking Magazine's  1,000 mile challenge, tripling his target and raising over £3,000!

Due to their brilliant support and generous grant, the cost of 3 of our 21 bedrooms will be completely covered for 6 whole months!

We cannot thank the Postcode Neighbourhood Trust enough for helping to support us through this unprecedented time, ensuring we can continue providing this vital service for families in need and giving us one less thing to worry about.

Grants from The Postcode Neighbourhood Trust are funded by players of the People's Postcode Lottery and so we are equally grateful to all who play for helping to make this possible.

Another fantastic donation towards Oscar's 10 for 10! Huge thanks to Lee, ARI UK and their Masterserve Foundation for their generosity and support.

Huge thanks to the amazing Incito group for taking on the Hike for Happiness for our home from home!

The wonderful Meghan at only 6 years old has been making some fab bracelets for our house!

Mum Louise of Dragonfly Handcrafted Jewellery Designs shared why with us:
"Meghan decided in the first Lockdown that she would like to make some bracelets for children who have been brave and who are struggling because they have suffered an illness."

Thank you Meghan for your kindness and support ❤️
Meghan's family stayed in our house back in 2010 when her older sister was in hospital and wanted to help other families like theirs.
To purchase one of her amazing bracelets for a brave, fierce child you know click here.

Introducing our most recent room sponsors!

We are honoured to have The Joe Way Surf Shack as part of our home from home. ❤️

Every year since 2008, Joe's family have put on the Joe Way Paddle for Life in his memory and donate to many worthwhile causes. Although this year's event was cancelled due to Covid-19 we look forward the paddle returning next year! Huge thanks to the Way family for all they have done for us, we are so grateful to them for their continued support following their stay in the house.

Huge thanks to this wonderful group of NCS students who chose to support our home from home back in October half-term. 

This amazing group of NCS students held a sponsored 7 mile walk back in October half term raising £191 for our home from home!

Heather held a cake raffle raising an amazing £324.24 for our house and families!

Heather's online Birthday Bake Raffle was a huge success, with many of her friends, family and colleagues purchasing tickets. The raffle was drawn on the 2nd November to commemorate our 18th Birthday with the lucky winner receiving one of her fantastic creations and the runner up getting some delicious home made cupcakes! The £324.24 Heather raised will provide 10 nights of accommodation and support for one of our families.

Bartie's recently donated an amazing £172.16 from his YouTube channel!

For those of you who don't know, Bartie Joyce is a singer/songwriter dedicated to raising money for our home from home, who's recently been able to make his first donation from his YouTube account of £172.16! We know this has taken a lot of time and hard work and we're so grateful for his ongoing support.

Bartie's parents stayed in our house back in 2003 and the family have been amazing supporters ever since.

If you'd like to help Bartie raise fund all you have to do is check out his videos on YouTube and watch the adverts! Click here to take a look! 

Denise our Charity Director has shared this message to reassure any families who may require our services over the coming weeks.
"Irrespective of the latest government announcement we have maintained our stringent covid-19 enhanced, health and safety governance and we are pleased to announce that we will still be doing all that we can to support as many families with critically ill children as possible during this second lockdown."

We opened on 2nd November 2002 and since then have supported over 8,360 families and counting.

Nominations are open for Ecclesiastical Movement for Good - 12 Days of Giving

Help us secure a £1,000 donation by voting for us now.

Vote Now.

This fab family have shown their support once again with a donation of much needed items for the house and 8 nights of accommodation.

We are very pleased to say that after 14 months Archie's family have returned to Plymouth, making them one step closer to home.

We are very pleased to say that Jayne and Kale have been able to return home after over 2 years in ours!

"Thank you all so much, words cannot express my deepest gratitude. Without this beautiful safe place to stay life would of been even harder. We will never forget the kindness you have shown us."
Jayne, Kale's Mum

Having stayed in our house for over 2 years, Jayne and the family are our longest staying family to date. Although we will miss Jayne and the whole family, we are absolutely over the moon that they are able to go home together now and wish them all the very best for the future.

We would also like to say a very big thank you to Jayne and the whole family for the fantastic support they have shown us throughout their stay, we are so very grateful for all they have done for our home from home and for this wonderful plaque that they gave us.

We are so happy to be able to share this fantastic news and join the many staff and families wishing Kale and Jayne well as they get to go home!

After postponing in May we are pleased to say that 8 of our brave supporters recently took on a 15,000ft tandem skydive for our home from home!

Huge thanks to Cintia, Jess, Gary, Jo, Chloe, Chelsea, Dru and Luke for taking on this challenge for our house and families. All together they have raised an amazing £3,250.05 which is equal to 93 nights of accommodation and support for a family in need. 

After postponing our skydive in May and again from the 7th October we were so happy to see are amazing supporters take to the skies and jump out of a plane! We are so very grateful for all their hard work fundraising, bravery and support, and can't thank them enough for taking on this challenge for our charity.

With thanks to Adam at Nailsea Electrical and Dave and Whirlpool Corporation.

Continuing the much needed updates to our family kitchens, we have replaced all 4 of our cookers with thanks to amazing support for Adam at Nailsea Electrical and a generous donation from Dave at Whirlpool Corporation.

These new cookers will make life easier for our families, ensuring they have an up to date space with everything they need to make a nice home cooked meal.

We still have further updates planned so watch this space to see the continued transformation of our family kitchens.

Wondering how you can get involved this festive season?

Are you a student of Bristol University or know someone that is?
RMHB has been shortlisted to be the Bristol RAG Charity of the Year!

This November marks our 18th anniversary of accommodating and support families in need. We'd love your help in commemorating this occasion with all things cake!

Although this years marathon looked very different, Gayle, Susie and Justin battled the wind and rain to take on this challenge in their local area. 

With thanks to Co-op Members and grant funding.

As many of you know, 12 year old Thom has been taking on 1000 miles this year for our home from home.

"Last year, a few days after my 11th birthday, I fell and broke my collarbone. It hurt. A lot! When I went to the hospital I saw lots of scared children, and some I was told, had come from quite far away and would have to stay there overnight. I live in Bristol so I went home after my visit but lots of families have nowhere to stay when their children are in the hospital and that's why the Ronald McDonald House Bristol is so amazing. 

The RMH Bristol can let families with children in critical care at the Bristol Hospital for Children, stay with them, for free, for as long as they need. I think they are amazing and because I got to go home with my family after my accident, I want to help them help more families who can't always go home straight away."

We are so grateful to Thom for his incredible determination, hard work and support, and just love keeping up to date with his walks and challenges.

To find out more about his journey click here.

Charlotte and Karl, alongside their friends and family, have been working hard this year to commemorate what would have been Oscar's 10th birthday. 

"Our room at the Ronald McDonald House really helped to take away the added stress of travelling to and from Swindon to Bristol, especially knowing that we were only a 2 minute walk away should the hospital call us. It also gave us a place to have some time when things got very emotional. 

Until being in a situation like we were in you really do not realise how invaluable places like the Ronald McDonald House are."

To find out more about their journey click here.

This is Susie! Some of you may remember her from running the Bristol 10K and Bristol Half Marathon last year for our home from home. Well this year she's decided to take on the London Marathon from home in just 4 weeks time!

"Covid-19 has had a really bad impact on all charities and one close to my heart is RMHB as I have seen first hand the wonderful work they do for families whose kids are receiving care at the BRHC."

Find out more and support Susie with her challenge by following the link 👉 https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SusieBannon

Back in August the Gasson family (including Mum, Dad, 2 Grandmas, 4 children and dog Ronald), took on the challenge of a 22 mile walk for our home from home.

They chose to take on this challenge following their stay in our house back in 2018 when their eldest son woke up one day unable to walk.

"It was such a blessing to us at a really difficult and uncertain time and I remember feeling relief and peace when we got our room. It was the consistency we needed, home comforts and precious memories. We will forever be thankful of the support they gave us during this time and the difference it made and want to be able to support them to do the same for other families who find themselves in this difficult situation too!"

After lots of tests, he was diagnosed with AFM (Acute Flaccid Myelitis) a very rare polio like virus. Although he is doing brilliantly, he still struggled to walk/run for long periods of time but was determined to complete this challenge!

"He really inspires me, he never lets anything hold him back, he gets on with it and has such a good attitude that he keeps up with everyone else his age." Mum

He is one inspirational 5 year old!
Although it turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year, they did it! We are so grateful to them all for their determination and support.

"We did it!!! 22 miles complete, it was very hard given the heat but worth every mile for all the money still coming in for your wonderful charity!"

The family raised an amazing £1,500 for our home from home, providing 43 nights of free accommodation and support.

It's not too late to take on a 2020 fundraising challenge! Take on one of our new virtual challenges to get fundraising from home.

What could you do to raise £35?
Whether you try something new 35 times or for 35 days, raise just £35 to support a family in need with a night of free accommodation.

Did you know our referral radius is 300 miles?
Think you could complete 300 miles or 300km by the end of 2020? Whether you run, walk, swim or cycle, help us to support families in need with this challenge.

Email frankie@rmhbristol.com now to start discussing your next challenge!

Could you jump out of a plane at 15,000ft?

We're excited to announce two new dates for skydives in 2021!

Tick this incredible experience off your bucket list and sign up for one of our 15,000ft tandem skydives with Skydive Buzz.

Wednesday 12th May 2021
Saturday 4th September 2021

Skydive Buzz, Dunkeswell Airfield, Honiton, Devon.
If you can raise over £395, you can jump for free!

For more info email: frankie@rmhbristol.com or follow the link below to book now!

15th/16th August 2020
Been out on the bike a lot during lock down? Why not get involved and take on your own Ride whether that's 100 miles, 46 miles, 19 miles or a freestyle distance of your own! This is a great challenge whether you're a keen cyclist or looking to try something with the whole family. Take on your own ride no matter where you are and help to support our home from home during this difficult time.
Register here.
Start your fundraising page by clicking here.

#MyPRL

Karl and his friends and family have been taking on the incredible challenge of 496km in 31 days! 

This month Thom passed the 500 mile mark in his 1,000 mile challenge!

After 2 years of training Andrew finally got to take on the channel this month. 

Andrew gave an absolutely valiant effort over the 16th/17th July, swimming for an incredible 15 hours 34 minutes overnight across the English Channel! Although his swim was sadly called for safety reasons before he made it to the end, this doesn't diminish his achievement in our eyes. We are all so impressed by his determination and strength and simply cannot thank him enough for everything. Andrew took on this challenge for our house, Care For Kids North Devon, Kidney Research UK and The Wave Project, for the support given to his family and particularly his grand-daughter Rosie.

Andrew is so close to his amazing £8,000 target! Read more about his story and help him reach his target by clicking here.

Emma, Nathan and Jon all braved the shave!

The Bristol Junior Lawyers Division took on their own 5 day challenges.

DePuy Synthes of Johnson and Johnson took on a My25 Challenge to get active.

Bee took on her own 2.6 challenge trying out 26 different dances.

Elizabeth has been creating face masks and donating the proceeds to our house.

Gemma has also been busy creating incredible designs in aid of our home from home, see below.

All together they raised enough to cover an incredible 84 nights of free accommodation and support for a family in our home from home!

As well as this, lots of you have been donating much needed items and funds to our house.

Huge thanks to all of you for your incredible support, we are so grateful to each and every one of you. 

Throughout the pandemic our house has remained open, supporting our existing families whilst we temporarily ceased our intake of new families. We reopened our doors recently, welcoming a limited number of families to best ensure social distancing and the safety of all our families. Follow the link below for our most recent statement on the measures in place to ensure our families safety.

Find out more.

Are you wondering how you can continue to support our families in need without leaving home?

Be a fundraising hero and take part in the 2.6 challenge to support our home from home. Whether you run for 2.6miles, try a hobby 26 times or get 26 people involved (following social distancing guidelines), this challenge is a great way to try something new and help support our house and families.

Looking for ideas? Check out our home fundraising pack for great ways to fundraise at home and virtually. Whether you are going to take on your own at home challenge, learn a new skill or get creative, there are plenty of ways you can keep your body and mind active whilst helping to raise vital funds for our home from home.

Download your fundraising pack here OR head to the at home fundraising section on our website.

The RMHB Emergency Appeal

Help us support families in need now and in the future by clicking here to donate to our Emergency Appeal now. 

Thank you so much to all our amazing supporters for your help and support. Without you we wouldn't be where we are today and we know we can get through this difficult time together.

Although it wasn't possible for all our runners to take on the race in Bath, we are so grateful to all our fundraisers for their hard work training and fundraising and would like to thank them no matter whether they ran in Bath, took on their own local run or postponed.

So far our wonderful team of runners have raised enough to support an amazing 21 families for 1 night of free accommodation and support! That's enough for 1 family in each of our 21 bedrooms.

Last Sunday we had two amazing teams of swimmers take on the Clifton Rotary Swimarathon to see how many lengths they could swim in 1 hour. Between them they managed to swim over 500 lengths which is absolutely incredible!

We are so grateful to them and all who sponsored them to take on this challenge. They have raised enough to ensure a family has the accommodation and support that they need and deserve for a whole week which is just fantastic! 

Once again huge thanks to the Smarties and Hengrove Team for taking on this challenge for our home from home.

The Swimarathon is an event we take part in every year. If you are interested in getting involved next year email natasha@rmhbristol.com.

The reason I chose to support Ronald McDonald House Bristol is back in 2016 my 3 month old daughter had a heart attack at home and we were rushed to Bristol hospital where she went under emergency open heart surgery. We lived 2 and half hours away and literally left with no clothes other than what we were wearing. In complete shock, we obviously hadn't planned on what was happening next, we ended up staying 4 months in intensive care.

Thanks to Ronald McDonald House Bristol offering us a room to stay, we could rest, shower and grab food which was vital to looking after ourselves, physically and mentally whilst caring for our sick daughter. I don't know what we would have done without that room to sleep in, and I can't thank them enough. I would love to raise money to help more families going through a similar experience as I know the stress and strain of finding somewhere to call home whilst going through such a bad time can make things worse.

With thanks to Co-op Members and our partnership with the High Kingsdown and Collage Green Stores for 2019-20, we have been able to begin some much needed renovations on our kitchen!

Our first job was installing new counter tops to refresh the space and provide a safer and more hygienic space. We also plan to replace the flooring throughout the main kitchen areas soon to continue the transformation.

The kitchen is a key room in our house, providing a space for families to share a home cooked meal together. We hope these improvements will help to keep this space working well for our families for another 17 years or more.