GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Ronald McDonald House of Western Michiganis teaming up with Spectrum Health's Renucci Hospitality House to house families with sick children.
The two facilities say they've been thinking about combining for a while now and are proud to be doing it today.
It's all in hopes of creating more clinical space.
Families living at the Renucci House will temporarily be moving to the Ronald McDonald House of Western Michigan.
The remaining families from the Ronald McDonald House were transitioned to the downtown Hampton Inn with meal supplies.
Due to this shift, Spectrum Health can temporarily take over management of the Ronald McDonald House during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This partnership makes sense, as the Ronald McDonald House of Western Michigan has always had a strong relationship with Spectrum Health, with over 85% of current families staying there have children at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital.
"The Renucci House has about 40 rooms, and so for them to be able to convert that into clinical space that's right by the hospital, that's a really great advantage for this community," said Ellen Carpenter, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House of Western Michigan.
Carpenter added that this is a temporary plan. "It's going to go month-to-month, week-to-week, for as long as this goes on. And we're just going have to take it day by day."
Both Renucci House and the Ronald McDonald House are not currently accepting additional reservations for families, but they are accepting donations.
