New hospital family centre seeks business support

THE charity behind a new centre for parents of sick children being treated at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital is seeking business sponsors to help it hit its fundraising target.

Ronald McDonald House Charities need to raise £1.5m to cover the furnishings, equipment and first-year running costs.

It has already raised around £7.3m towards the cost of the building which will be built by Cheshire-based Pochin Construction and should be finished by the end of next year.

Fundraiser Anna Bullock said: “Businesses can contribute to all sorts of different elements such as sponsoring a room or getting involved in other ways such as volunteering.

“We’ve already had some very generous support from organisations and individuals including the accountant Harvey Simon, distribution firm Keystone and Steve Burne, managing director of AEW Architects, who has raised £40,000 on a 600km bike ride in Vietnam.”

The 60-bedroom, five-storey ‘home from home’ facility will be the 15th opened by Ronald McDonald House in the UK. Designed by Manchester-based AEW Architects the facility is next-door to the new children’s hospital.

Ronald McDonald was established in the US in the 1970s by a McDonald’s franchisee. It is still the restaurant chain’s main charity.

To support the latest facility contact Anna on 0161 253 4118.