ORLANDO, Fla. – The Ronald McDonald House is planning to add a third home to Central Florida, this time on the campus of Nemours Children's Hospital.
The new facility will cost nearly $6 million dollars at Nemours Children's Hospital giving more families the option of staying closer to home.
The new Ronald McDonald House will be built with the hopes of turning Orlando into a national pediatric health-care destination.
"We have first class hospitals here in Orlando and people traveling here from all over the world and I do believe we will be a pediatric destination," LouAnn DeVoogd, president and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida said Thursday.
The charities unveiled the major plans for the new 22-hundred square foot, three story facility Thursday.
They've been working behind the scenes for the house since before Nemours opened its doors in 2012.
The houses allow families to stay in bedrooms while their critically ill children are hospitalized, saving on hotel and food costs and keeping families closer to their sick and healing children.
"For us to be a home away from home where families can step away for a few minutes, but know they are only a few steps away from their children brings a calm and that calm relates to how they can coop with their childs illness," DeVoogd said.
The charity hopes to break ground this fall and expects a 12-month construction timeline.