The Ronald McDonald House project in Red Deer has received a major boost — a $1 million private donation.
Mary Bea Quinn, operator of a number of businesses in the Rocky Mountain House area, bequeathed the amount just before Christmas as a memorial to Bernard, her husband and business partner.
Because of their distance from Red Deer, the Quinns were quick to recognize the value of a facility that would accommodate families when children must be brought into Red Deer for treatment, Larry Mathieson, executive director for the Southern Alberta region of Ronald McDonald House, said Tuesday.
Quinn and members of her family have also joined the Reg and Lyn Radford family of Red Deer on the capital campaign cabinet, which now has an office and staff in Red Deer.
Mathieson said the total amount raised so far is now about $4.5 million, of which about half came from within the Central Alberta community.
Ronald McDonald House needs about $4 million more to start construction. Under its corporate rules, the project cannot break ground until it has received at least $8 million in donations, grants and pledges, Mathieson said.
Along with individual and corporate donations, the project has applied for a variety of grants, including the province’s Community Facilities Enhancement Fund, which has supported Ronald McDonald projects in Edmonton and Calgary, he said. Money has already been committed from Ronald McDonald House’s national office in Toronto.
Buildings on the site, immediately south of the Red Deer Regional Hospital, have now been demolished and the planning and design process are well underway, Mathieson said.
Contractors hope to be able to start on the ground work and foundations in March, when the soil is still firm, because there is a slope on the site, said Mathieson.
That gives the capital campaign less than three months to raise the money it needs to start building, he said.
“We have a fairly aggressive target. We’ve got to raise the money locally and we’ve got to raise the money quickly, for the construction deadline.”
The plan calls for 11 suites in three floors with five full-time staff, supported almost entirely through donations.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com