The drive from her home in Cross Lanes to downtown Charleston began to seem a lot longer for Libby Harris 35 years ago, after her then-5-year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukemia.
Other parents weren't as lucky. Harris saw many of them sleeping in their cars outside Charleston Area Medical Center's Women and Children's Hospital, waiting to return to their sick children.
"We had a home we could go back to - not that I did much, because at that point we lived in Cross Lanes, and even that drive felt like such a great distance," she said. "Seeing other families, who didn't have a place to go, sleeping in their cars - it just broke my heart, because all of us were going through such a hard thing."
Harris, one of the founders of the Ronald McDonald House in Charleston, had a lot to be thankful for Tuesday - her daughter, Kimberley, recently turned 40, the old Ronald McDonald House near CAMC Memorial turned 30 this year, and Ronald McDonald House Charities broke ground Tuesday on its new house on Pennsylvania Avenue, only steps away from Women and Children's Hospital.
"I think this, today, is just amazing," said Harris, who traveled from her current home in Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend Tuesday's groundbreaking ceremony. "It's something we wanted many years ago, before I moved away, and we talked for so long about moving it over here, but it just wasn't in the cards then. I think this is just such a remarkable day."
The new $3.5 million structure will be located on Pennsylvania Avenue, next to the West Virginia Lottery building and within walking distance of Women and Children's Hospital. The building is set to replace Charleston's current Ronald McDonald House, the smallest and oldest of the three in West Virginia. The new ADA-compliant, 19,000-square-foot house will feature an expanded common room, 14 guest rooms - four more than the previous house - and will have a third-floor shell for storage and future expansion.
"Families we don't yet know, kids we've not yet met, and babies who haven't yet been born will call this house a home," said Laurie Miller, vice president of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern West Virginia's board of directors. "Parents will read stories to their children in these rooms. They'll eat here. We hope they'll relax here. They'll play here.
"We hope they'll find time to send an e-mail to a loved one, call home to check in, let their families know that they're being taken care of and their needs are being met."
Construction will begin in October and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2016.
"This new, modern, more efficient house, located just steps from Women and Children's Hospital, will allow us to continue what we do today," said Dewayne Dickens, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern West Virginia. "We've been around for 30 years, and this will allow us to keep going for another 30 years and beyond."
The old Ronald McDonald House will likely receive a new lease on life, too - Dave Ramsey, CEO of CAMC, said the health system plans to purchase the Kanawha City house and convert it into a "hospitality house" for families of those staying long-term at CAMC Memorial.
Ronald McDonald House Charities has raised $3.1 million of its $3.5 million goal through its Building Love, Bridging Hearts fundraising campaign launched in December 2014. On Tuesday, the agency announced it had taken the campaign public to raise the remaining $400,000, and has launched a capital campaign website, www.buildinglovebridginghearts.org.
"Think how much relief you would feel in knowing that this Ronald McDonald House was going to be home to you while your precious child - your precious child - had to suffer through treatment," said Al Emch, co-chairman of the Building Love, Bridging Hearts campaign. "That's what Ronald McDonald House is; that's what it does. It provides a home, it provides stability, it provides comfort, it provides compassion, it provides love.
"That's the best any of us can do."
Major contributors to the project include BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Company, Charleston Area Medical Center, Columbia Pipeline Group and McDonald's of the Tri-State and Southern West Virginia.
The Ronald McDonald House still is seeking donations to reach its $3.5 million goal. To learn more about individual or group donation opportunities, visit www.buildinglovebridginghearts.org, CharlestonRMHC.org or call 304-346-0279.
Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.