It’s only 167 steps from Ronald McDonald House Ottawa to CHEO.

For most people, that’s just a short walk.

For out-of-town families coping with a child’s illness, those 167 steps can mean the difference between crisis and comfort. Inside, they can share a home-cooked meal, sleep under one roof and be surrounded by others who understand exactly what they’re going through.

As colourful confetti filled the air Monday, supporters celebrated the official opening of Ronald McDonald House Ottawa’s expansion. Years in the making, the project more than doubled the facility’s capacity, adding 25,000 square feet to make the entire house 36,000 square feet.

The $24.6-million expansion has increased the number of suites from 14 to 36, allowing more families to stay together while their little one receives treatment at the local children’s hospital, CHEO. Families have already been settling into the new space over the past several months, with Monday’s event marking its official opening.

Special guests and dignitaries fire off confetti at the grand opening celebration for the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa, held Monday, July 13, 2026. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Guest speakers Michelle Neal and her husband Zach put a human face on what the expansion means.

Neal shared how Ronald McDonald House Ottawa (RMHO) became her family’s temporary home after her 18-month-old daughter, Grace, was diagnosed in 2023 with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. The family had travelled nine hours from the Northern Ontario town of Iroquois Falls to Ottawa, searching for answers.

Neal had heard of Ronald McDonald House but didn’t know what to expect. They arrived at the facility after their daughter’s first day of chemo.

“Walking through the doors, I remember thinking, ‘What is this place?'” she recalled.

“It wasn’t a hotel. It wasn’t just a place to sleep. It was a home. A home built, specifically, for families like ours, families whose lives have been turned upside down overnight.”

Neal said she appreciated the hot meals that volunteers left on the kitchen counter, “like your mom leaving supper for you when you came home late.” There were grab-and-go snacks, unlimited tea and coffee, music and pet therapy, visits from Ottawa Senators players and holiday celebrations.

“The staff somehow knew exactly when to offer encouragement, a smile or simply a listening ear,” she said. “It was a place that took care of us so that we could take care of Grace.”

Said the mother of three: “Looking back now, one of its greatest gifts was allowing us to remain together as a family at a time when cancer could easily have pulled us apart.”

While Zach Neal helped share his family’s story, his wife Michelle Neal holds three-year-old daughter Grace while daughter Cora, five, appeared to have the important job of keeping an eye on the Canadian flag. Photo by Caroline Phillips

The Neals spent four months at RMHO, which continues to hold a special place in their hearts. The family makes a point of dropping into the facility to say hello whenever they return to Ottawa for Grace’s follow-up medical appointments. They’ve since seen firsthand the expanded building, including “guest rooms with high ceilings that somehow make it easier to breathe during life’s heaviest moments,” said Zach.

“The hardest part about leaving has never been the long drive home,” the dad said. “It’s been realizing that places like this can only exist because there will always be families to take your place, who need somewhere to stay, whose journeys are just beginning. There’s comfort knowing that places like this are here for these families.”

Cora Neal delivered a little wave while her mother, Michelle Neal, of Iroquois Falls, shared how Ronald McDonald House Ottawa helped her family during a terrifying health crisis. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Ottawa South MP David McGuinty said the expansion project represents the best of Canada, with governments, donors, volunteers, construction teams, community partners and others coming together for a shared purpose.

“We’ve made a decision not to leave anybody behind,” said McGuinty, who helped to secure a federal government grant of $9.37-million toward the net-zero carbon build.

Said RMHO CEO Christine Hardy at the podium: “We would not be standing here without him.”

RMHO serves visitors who live too far away from CHEO to commute back and forth. A lot of its families are from other parts of Eastern Ontario, Northern Ontario, Western Quebec and Nunavut.

The expansion has increased annual overnight capacity from 5,000 to 13,000 stays.

From left, federal cabinet minister and Ottawa South MP David McGuinty, Ronald McDonald House Ottawa CEO Christine Hardy and Danny Baldwin, chair of the local charity’s expansion committee, at the grand opening celebration of the expanded facility, held Monday, July 13, 2026. Photo by Caroline Phillips

From left, Ed Herweyer, partner at Annis O’Sullivan Vollebekk (AOV Surveying), and Ottawa South MP David McGuinty, who’s also Canada’s Defence Minister, at the grand opening celebration of the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa, held Monday, July 13, 2026. Photo by Caroline Phillips

McDonald’s owner-operator Perry McKenna, who also attended the original opening of Ronald McDonald House Ottawa in 1984, speaks during Monday’s grand opening celebration of the expanded facility. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Community volunteer Andrea Laurin and her husband, Dennis Laurin, founder and chairman of Laurin, which, as general contractor, was part of the “dream team” behind building the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa located on the grounds of CHEO. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Federal cabinet minister and Ottawa South MP David McGuinty at the grand opening of the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa that received $9.37 million in federal funding with his help. Photo by Caroline Phillips

From left, McDonald’s restaurant owner-operator Sophie Zhang, who’s also a board member with Ronald McDonald House Ottawa, alongside luxury realtors Reba Wilson and Marilyn Wilson from Marilyn Wilson Dream Properties, and Tracy Rait-Parkes and Scott Parkes from the Taggart Parkes Foundation, at the grand opening celebration of the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Former Ronald McDonald House Ottawa (RMHO) board chair Danny Baldwin, who chaired the committee for the expansion project, and current RMHO board chair Karen Hennessey, a partner at Gowling WLG, at the grand opening celebration of the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Hardy also recognized Danny Baldwin, past board chair of RMHO and chair of its expansion project, for his “leadership, passion and sense of humour when I needed it most.”

Anyone who saw his Grimace socks from the fundraising McHappy Day would probably agree.

The Ontario government contributed $3.8 million to the project. Children, Community and Social Services Minister Michael Parsa, who attended Monday’s celebration, called the expansion a true partnership. “In the end, we all win when we work together.”

From CHEO were its president and CEO Dr. Vera Etches and Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice CEO Megan Wright. CHEO Foundation was a major campaign donor.

RMHO contributed $4.5 million of its own savings, Ronald McDonald House Canada gave $2.2 million, and local owner-operators of McDonald’s restaurants also contributed more than $700,000. There’s a digital donor wall in the facility listing the dozens of businesses, foundations, associations and individuals who contributed to the campaign.

Supporters later toured the expanded facility, which features a large communal kitchen for families to cook and eat together, improved accessibility, expanded children’s play areas, colourful windows, a fitness area, laundry room and quiet areas for reflection or remote work.

Attendees wrapped up their visit with a Canadian classic: BeaverTails.

Kate Horton, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Canada, described the opening as more than a major milestone.

“It is the culmination of thousands of small, meaningful moments of community, care and generosity,” she said, crediting “every donation, every act of kindness, every volunteer hour, every brick laid.”

Ronald McDonald House Canada CEO Kate Horton at the podium during the grand celebration of the expanded Ronald McDonald House in Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips

RMHO long-time board member and McDonald’s franchise owner Perry McKenna described the expansion as a “project of love,” born from a community responding to a growing need.

He also called hiring Hardy as CEO in 2018 one of the board’s best decisions, praising her “steadfast leadership, determination and grace under fire” for guiding the project through the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges.

McGuinty’s comments revealed that his commitment to projects such as the Ronald McDonald House expansion was shaped long before he ever became a politician.

He recalled being woken at 5 a.m. by his parents on the morning CHEO officially opened in 1974. One of 10 children, McGuinty said his parents really believed in what the new hospital would mean for local families. His mother was a nurse.

Squeezed into a pickup truck already filled with hundreds of marigolds, the family arrived with shovels and spades. For the next two hours, they planted roughly 500 flowers around the new hospital ahead of the official opening.

“That’s how much they believed in what we were doing for each other at the time,” McGuinty said, crediting his parents with instilling the values that still guide him today.

“We look out for each other; we don’t leave people behind,” he reiterated. “If we practise this across the country, 42 million strong, it’s amazing what we can do.”

McGuinty’s story wasn’t the only trip down memory lane. Members of the RCMP Musical Ride also returned, having participated in Ronald McDonald House Ottawa’s original opening in 1984.

From left, volunteer leader Danny Baldwin, Roger Neilson Children’s Hospice CEO Megan Wright, Ronald McDonald House Canada CEO Kate Horton and Dr. Vera Etches, president and CEO of CHEO, with members of the RCMP Musical Ride — which was also at the original celebration, when Ronald McDonald House Ottawa first opened in 1984. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Michael Parsa at the podium during the grand celebration of the expanded Ronald McDonald House that the Ontario government supported with a $3.8 million grant. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Stephanie Poff, communications manager at Ronald McDonald House Ottawa (RMHO), and RMHO board member Andrew Godfrey, a partner at Kelly Santini LLP, at the grand opening celebration of the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Photographic artwork by Ottawa-based Canadian wildlife photographer Michelle Valberg adorns the hallways of Ronald McDonald House Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Ottawa South MPP John Fraser and Christine Hardy, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Ottawa, inside the expanded house, which provides a home away from home for more out-of-town families while their children receive treatment at CHEO. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Yasser Ghazi, vice president of commercial financial services at RBC, and RBC commercial account managers Cynthia Desjardins and Marlene Johnson in the new Senators Community Foundation Play Room at Ronald McDonald House Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips

A view of the new communal kitchen and dining area in the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips

Cynthia Little, director of major gifts at Ronald McDonald House Ottawa, and Scott Phelan, deputy chief of staff to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, at the grand opening celebration of the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa. Photo by Caroline Phillips

The Ronald McDonald House Ottawa expansion includes a spacious area where families can unwind together over a movie, video games or table tennis. Photo by Caroline Phillips

From left, Kate Horton, the Neal family, David McGuinty, Perry McKenna, Christine Hardy and Michael Parsa at the grand opening celebration of the expanded Ronald McDonald House Ottawa, which has been welcoming families for several months. Photo by Caroline Phillips

This article is made possible through sponsorship from Star Motors, WEALTH (WCPD), Syntax Strategic, RBC, Marilyn Wilson Dream Properties, ExecHealth, Altis Recruitment, Bell Canada, First Avenue Investment Counsel, Welch LLP, Brazeau Seller Law and Prime Benefits Group.

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