Seeks Quarters for Kin of Seriously Ill : Childrens Hospital Asks for McDonald’s Grant

Childrens Hospital of Orange County formally applied to the McDonald’s hamburger chain Monday for a grant to build living quarters for families of seriously ill children.

Such facilities, called Ronald McDonald Houses after the restaurant chain’s mascot, offer inexpensive or free living space for the parents and siblings of children suffering from cancer and other catastrophic illnesses.

A McDonald’s spokeswoman said 93 such facilities have been built worldwide, including one at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.

Dr. Geni Bennetts of Childrens Hospital of Orange County said that parents of gravely ill children often remain with them for long periods but have no place to stay nearby. “Our parents are now sleeping on folding chair cots in the rooms with their children,” she added.

In hopes that a McDonald’s grant can be obtained, Childrens Hospital has purchased a nearby plot of land on Batavia Street between the medical buildings and a residential neighborhood. A two-story, 20-suite house can be built there, leaving enough space for parking and a manager’s house, Bennetts said.

CHOC has competition for such a grant, however. Loma Linda University Medical Center, where much-publicized infant heart transplants have been conducted recently, has also filed with McDonald’s.

But Rosalind Gray, a public relations spokeswoman for the McDonald’s Operator’s Assn. of Southern California, said the two hospitals are not necessarily in competition. “We don’t even know that we have the funds to do either house at this point,” she said.

The current application process is “very preliminary,” Gray said. “Today, we received final copies of proposals they put together. It will probably take months to review. We will probably know something in the late fall.

“What they have to do is show that there is a need for the facility, that the hospital will support it, that the parent group will support it, and that it would be meaningful and helpful.

“If there is, indeed, a need at either facility, and if the funding is available, (construction) may be a year or two off,” Gray said.

Bennetts said an application, compiled by a task force of hospital volunteers, was delivered Monday. The three-inch-thick file included letters of support from the county Board of Supervisors, the Orange City Council and various service and charitable groups, plus at least 100 offers of help from volunteers, she said.

The application also included an estimate from a local contractor showing how the facility could be built on the existing property, a preliminary construction budget and pledges from contractors willing to help.

“I’m hoping the overwhelming community support will let them know how badly the community wants this program,” Bennetts said.

The Ronald McDonald House in Los Angeles cost $1.4 million to build in the late 1970s, Gray said. It has 16 bedrooms with baths, an atrium, library, laundry and outdoor recreation facilities. “It’s very homelike,” she said.

Officials at Loma Linda could not be reached for comment.