Ahead of move, Ronald McDonald House sells current home to St. Raymond’s Society

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Mid-Missouri is selling its current location in Columbia to St. Raymond’s Society, a charity helping children and pregnant mothers.

The sale of the location at 3501 Lansing Avenue comes as MU Health Care plans to open its new children’s hospital in 2024. Ronald McDonald House provides families of hospitalized children with housing and other services, and a location near the new hospital is needed, the organization said.

Terri Gray, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Mid-Missouri, wrote in a letter announcing the sale that negotiations are taking place to secure a new location.

“It will always be vital for the Ronald McDonald House to be within steps, not miles, of our community’s children’s hospital because minutes matter when you have a hospitalized child,” Gray wrote. “We are in active negotiations with the University of Missouri to identify a location close to the new Children’s Hospital for a new Ronald McDonald House.”

In the interim, Ronald McDonald House is working with MU Health to find a temporary location during construction of a new house. While Gray described leaving the location that served the organization for the past nine years as “bittersweet,'' she added that St. Raymond’s Society is the ideal organization to take ownership.

“While it will be bittersweet to leave our current home, we believe St. Raymond’s Society is the ideal organization to take ownership of the House that Love Built and use it to serve our community,” Gray said.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Ronald McDonald House sells current home to St. Raymond’s Society