This charity holds a special place in the hearts of the Bridger family and here is why.

On 9th August Cassidy had a cardiac arrest at the hockey turf in Dunedin and as a result, she was transferred to Starship Hospital in Auckland. With Cassidy in the hospital, her parents naturally wanted to be as close to her as possible and the Southern DHB had organised for us to stay at Ronald McDonald House. Here we were greeted with kind and caring staff and volunteers who arranged a room for us to sleep in and made sure that every day we were there that we were met and greeted with friendly smiles and helpful staff.

When we first arrived we had to make our own meals and cater for ourselves using their adequately equipped kitchens. But when Covid struck again we were no longer able to use the shared kitchen. Ronald McDonald House had a plan in place for this lockdown and during this time every room was fitted with a small fridge, microwave, kettle and toaster. They then supplied us with nutritional and easily reheated meals for every lunch and tea as well as supplying breakfast foods and snacks. We never had to worry about any of these things during our stay up there so our main focus could be on Cassidy and this took a big weight off our shoulders. Once Cassidy was discharged from the hospital the staff at the house gave us a bigger room so she could join us until we were able to arrange a flight home.

We owe a massive thanks to Ronald McDonald House for caring for our family in our time of need and uncertainty. Over our stay, I heard of lots of other families who owed just as much gratitude as us to them too.