McCuisine Aids CHOC Child Refuge

So what if the closest thing to French on the menu happened to be fries? Or if the price--$125 per person--might have been a little, well, haute for a burger? The evening was a McSuccess.

The service was impressive, albeit a bit slower than the restaurant’s everyday lightning pace. And the ambiance, with linen tablecloths, china and flatware, was elegant enough to make guests almost forget where they were. But it was the cause--Orange County’s Ronald McDonald House, now being built next to Childrens Hospital of Orange County--that made the meal worth every McPenny.

Parents whose children are hospitalized may naturally want to be with their little ones every minute, said Dr. Geni Bennetts, head of CHOC’s oncology/hematology unit and president of the Ronald McDonald House’s board of trustees.

“But they still need someplace to go lie down and sleep,” she said. Ronald McDonald houses are “kind of a refuge” for families of chronically ill children, she said, as well as “a place where families can be supportive to each other.”

Construction began in September on the Orange County house, with a tentative opening date of May, 1989, according to Herb Watson, recently hired as director of the project.

“Our goal is to open the house without a mortgage,” Watson said. In addition to the $22,000 raised at Chez McDonald’s, the house got a $500,000 boost in that direction from Mary Moore Young, whose late husband, William Ray Moore, was a McDonald’s food supplier.

Members of the various building trades are also donating their labor to keep the cost down, said Marc Widdicombe, chairman of the house’s fund-raising committee.

“They’ve been tremendously supportive,” he said. “Our biggest need right now is for lumber companies to come in and help with those materials.”

The house will include 20 bedrooms, plus a communal kitchen and living area, according to Widdicombe, who came up with the idea for Chez McDonald’s. Widdicombe, whose family owns three McDonald’s outlets in Garden Grove, closed the restaurant at Chapman and Brookhurst avenues at 6:30 p.m. Saturday to transform it for the benefit.

The menu featured Chicken McNugget appetizers, followed by salad and a choice of entrees including Big Macs, Filets of Fish, McDLTs and Chicken Oriental Salads. And for dessert, guests had a choice of sundaes or hot peach pie a la mode.

Instead of being packaged in Styrofoam and served on plastic trays, the repast was served course by course by volunteer waiters from the McDonald’s staff. McWine--from Thunderbird wrapped in a brown paper bag to Dom Perignon--was also available for an additional donation.