- Will you consider this?

Parenting is challenging, but when a child becomes ill, it's always more difficult to see the little ones suffer.

When it's life-threatening, the whole world changes for the entire family, but for a home away from home, it's comforting to know there's a place for families of Ronald McDonald House.

(upbeat music) We've all dropped off our change at the first window and going through the drive-through or put it in the jar, but have you wondered about all the particulars of Ronald McDonald House?

I'm Christine Zak-Edmonds, and my guest not only utilized the services, but literally bulldozed her way to bringing a Ronald McDonald House to Peoria for kids and their families.

Please welcome Julie Locke Moore.

- Thank you.

- How are you today?

- Great, I'm excited to be here.

Thanks for having me.

- Well, thank you.

We'll start kind of on a sad note.

You never really wanted to know everything you know about Ronald McDonald House, but you had a little boy who-- - Yeah - [Christine] had cancer.

- Correct.

Yeah, that's something, like you were saying in the opening that you see those little change boxes at every McDonald's and you don't really understand.

You see the commercials and the sick children but I truly had no idea the capacity that that charity is serving for so many families.

- And little Dax was diagnosed with... - [Julie] He was diagnosed with AML-M7 leukemia when he was on his first birthday.

- [Christine] And then you were diagnosed here, immediately went to Memphis and he went through all of the treatments.

And then you went to the Ronald McDonald House.

- That's right.

When we left Peoria for Memphis, they told us that we would be there for three months and to pack.

And I was like, what do you mean I'm going to be away from my home for three months?

I had no idea as a new mom, what this was going to look like or how I would cope.

You're so used to their schedules, their napping schedules and just the comforts of your own home.

Three months to me sounded unimaginable.

I could not do this, but when we arrived in Memphis at St. Jude, after we got out of the hospital, after they had him more stable and they taught us how to care for him outside of the hospital, we could just go there once a day and get treatments and come back and forth it sometimes.

They told me about the Ronald McDonald House, and I was like, I've known of those, I've seen those little change boxes, but I'm okay.

I think I'm just going to get an apartment while we're here and they're like, ma'am, just go over there and have a hot meal and just check it out and see what it's all about.

And then let us know what you think.

So I had some friends that were already staying at the Ronald McDonald House that I had met at the hospital and they just raved about it.

And I was still just kind of wanting to keep to myself.

When you're going through something hard, you don't really have a whole lot of energy for other people.

You kind of want to just... - Wrap your arms around yourselves and your child, right?

- Yeah, and you have so much on your plate and on your mind, managing what's going on around you is really all of the energy that I had to give, I felt.

I had no idea though, truly, the biggest blessing that the Ronald McDonald House would be for me, was that it actually pulls you out of that.

It forces you to be amongst other people that are suffering like you.

And that type of healing can only come in a place that is designed specifically for families.

- Where people know pretty closely what you're going through at the same time.

- Or experiencing something on the type of level that you are.

It's not like your friends at home that are experiencing maybe too full of a schedule or too many soccer games or their kids are suffering from minor ear infections and dentist appointments, you know?

- Well, and then the beauty of a Ronald McDonald House is that you can take your child there with you, so you can still be a family unit because they're equipped for whatever kinds of equipment that you need with your child.

- That's right.

So the Peoria Ronald McDonald House was built a little bit... we actually gathered a lot of people who have experienced Ronald McDonald House in Memphis.

A lot of the parents here in Peoria that are St. Jude families that live down there, and we said, it was so amazing down there, what is some feedback that we could do to make it even better for the families here?

So in Memphis, how it's set up is you get a room, a bathroom, and then you share everything else.

You share your kitchen space, you eat together.

There's playrooms, a pantry that's stocked full of food.

and it's just wonderful.

- Well, so for years we put the change in the jars in the drive-through, little basket there, and that money, it stayed in the state of Illinois, probably went to... Springfield had been the closest Ronald McDonald House to us?

- Correct.

There's one in Springfield.

I believe that is the only one that is south of Chicago, that was in the state of Illinois.

So there's definitely a big lack in this area because if you weren't in Springfield or Chicago, there was nowhere in between for families.

- And we had the affiliate here, so it only made sense.

- Yeah, and the children's hospital.

The thing about Ronald McDonald charities is it serves all families who have children who are going through something.

So yes, our St. Jude affiliate can definitely use the Ronald McDonald House but so can all the families-- - [Christine] For the children's hospital.

- For the children's hospital, and all other medical facilities in town, Unity Points and Easter Seals, anyone.

- Now tell me then about your biggest challenge trying to find the permission from the Ronald McDonald children's charity to get one here, and then we'll go to the site and then we'll go to the bulldozing and then we'll go to the actual putting up the walls.

- Sure, so a great mentor friend of mine once said that, if a desire is placed on your heart and you're going to come up against a lot of doors, if they open, you walk through them but you'll know if it shuts.

And so I was pretty set on our area needing this.

I knew in my heart, in Memphis, that that little gem that we had was so necessary here.

So I started talking, I went to a gala just to get in front of some people that I knew might be there at the hospital, and I saw the president of the Children's Hospital and I went right up to him and I introduced myself and I said, listen, I think this is a need.

- [Christine] We need this, yes.

- We need this and from that communication, he promptly agreed with me and he connected me with Ronald McDonald House Charities at that point.

And again, that door just opened and I just kept walking through.

- Good for you.

But Ronald McDonald House, what were some of the hurdles that you had then in the beginning?

You were working with RMCC, Ronald McDonald Children's Charity, did you have big hurdles with them or they gave you a checklist, bullet points to follow or what?

- Well, basically, the director of the House in Springfield... she was who I met with Ronald McDonald House Charities, and I guess there had been a plan to want to bring one here for a long time, and they had tried before, so she was onboard and she was excited.

So her and I worked the entire time right next to each other on this whole project.

And so she was able to communicate with global and with the board, and they were so excited to be here.

It was amazing to work with, to be honest, it was such a delight.

They saw the need.

We did a study and we proved the need that over 700 families a year were in need of this space.

- Here.

Just in our little corner of the world.

- Yep.

So I worked with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois, so they're located in Springfield but now this Peoria house is part of their network, you would say.

So the need was here and it was great.

And I also knew that, in my mind, because every St. Jude family and staff member that I had ever met, told me over and over how much-- - [Christine] It was needed here.

- They needed it here, and so I'd know nothing about...

I'm just a volunteer.

I know nothing about the real politics or any of that, but I knew the need was real, and as soon as we proved it, I was sure that that door was wide open.

- Well, you certainly did bulldoze your way to get some things done and in a very nice way, very polite way.

- Thank you.

- How about the property when it came to finding the property, how difficult was that and how much help did you get with that?

- So it took a while to really find the exact spot, the spots, of course, that we wanted, the cost... the way Ronald McDonald House Charities operates, we had to raise the money and have the money, so we couldn't just take out this huge loan to get this-- - [Christine] How much did you have to raise?

- A total of $10 million for the whole build.

- And that took how long?

- Actually we're still kind of at the end of that process because of Coronavirus held up our fundraising.

So I'm not for sure to date, but I know it's under a million that we still have left to raise.

- So you had to have the money in the bank earning some interest before you could even pretty much break ground.

- Yep, they're just very conservative, and that was another thing that really made me very comfortable with the way they made decisions.

And also when I was working with Ronald McDonald House... her name was Kelly, the director of the Springfield house at the time, she was elevated to the CEO of the chapter, so her and I worked together and then we reached out to Terry Clark and he is the owner/operator of all the McDonald's-- - [Christine] Franchises around here.

- In Peoria, yeah, and so he came alongside too, and that was just another sign that I knew that was a man that I trusted well and really had a lot of respect for, so that made it even more sure.

- When you go into the area, you said that you have a wonderful pantry, and people want to know what is a room like there?

And you have common areas now, what can people do, like me and regular folks, who want to do something and are interested to find out about Ronald McDonald House, what can they do to get involved?

- There are many ways to get involved.

The House is mainly run by volunteers.

With COVID, that's definitely been a struggle but I know that we are on the upside of that and being able to bring back our volunteers.

So the front desk position, like when families come in and visitors come in, volunteers run that, so that's something you can go online and there's volunteer opportunities for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois, you can do that.

That's kind of a big time commitment, but if you want to donate a meal, that's another really amazing thing.

We have a kitchen, it's called a community kitchen, where groups can come in and you can cook a meal with your family, with a small group from church, with your girl scout troop, whoever it may be, you can sign up on that calendar and bring in a group of people and serve the families a hot meal.

The kitchen is approved, so of course, the food has to be cooked there in the kitchen or in an approved kitchen outside, if you bring in catered food, but that's just a really great way to be able to serve the families and be with your family at the same time.

- Exactly, and then gift cards, of course, for area restaurants, not only McDonald's, but that's nice too.

- Yes, definitely, just food donation.

There's a stocked pantry, you could basically live out of that pantry.

It's stocked full of non-perishable, so snack size non-perishable foods are... they eat them like crazy.

Also there's a toy store inside-- - [Christine] Tell me about that, I saw that.

- Yeah, it's amazing.

So when a new family comes inside, you walk in and you're nervous, you're uncomfortable, they have this beautiful toy shop that looks like the Tree of Life at Disney world, literally, and you can see inside it and it's just stocked with toys.

And so the kids, when you're a new patient, you get to go in, or a new guest, you get to go in and get a gift and take it up to your room and it's yours.

- All right.

And other family members can go, so mom and dad and siblings can also be there, right?

Especially if there's young siblings, who need to be with mommy and daddy and that kind of thing.

- Yes, we built suites, so there's 22 suites.

Each suite, I believe can hold five people, so there's a door that shuts, and so there's a living room but it pulls out to a bed, so you can sleep five people pretty comfortably in that space.

And everyone has their own bathroom and their own free laundry on the floor.

So everything you need is there.

- And you think you thought of everything.

- Well, you're always proved.

Yeah, there's always something that comes up but we really tried hard just to make it as most comfortable, like I told you in Memphis, it was just one room, and so you didn't have a door you could shut, if you had a teenager or if you're having a hard conversation or your child wasn't feeling well, you didn't have a door you could shut, so I was really highly focused on that in Peoria.

That we could make the families more comfortable for their stay.

- And you had a lot of things donated and a lot of furniture items and things donated too, so people really were coming out of the woodwork to be generous and help out.

- Yes, we had so many donations from The RoomPlace in Northwoods Mall gave a ton of furniture, Caterpillar donated furniture.

I mean, Lazy Boy.

It was on and on.

Tempur-Pedic beds.

I honestly-- - [Christine] You were kind of overwhelmed.

- It was amazing.

It was a good overwhelmed.

Just to see the outpour of this community.

It doesn't surprise me.

Ever since my son has been sick, there's no words to describe the supernatural work of the people's hearts just pouring into something like that.

It's beautiful.

- It is, and it is Central Illinois.

And it's very unique to us.

Yes, and you didn't want to necessarily ever want to find that out, but it's been a blessing in disguise for you and for all of us to be able to have this facility here.

And for people who don't know, it is just down the hill from our two big hospitals from OSF Saint Francis Children's Hospital and Unity Point, which is really nice for the families to be able to have access to what they need.

- Absolutely.

OSF sends a shuttle to the front door every day, it's their parking shuttle, they pick up our families and take them to the front doorstep of the children's hospital.

They can walk there.

There's a sidewalk from the house all the way to the front door.

Gordon Honegger was another person that supported us from Morton Community Banks from the beginning, and he helped us secure that land and it was perfect.

- Now, so we touched on that a little bit, how did you finally arrive at that location?

The price was good.

I mean, the location is perfect, but what were all of the elements that went into securing that particular site?

- Gordon Honegger made it happen.

He is just an angel on this earth that stepped in and helped us, and he just knew the person that owned that.

And it was a historical site actually, if you would have drove down there, a big house had burned down on that site but there was still a part of a shed left on there, so, after it was inspected and everything, and the cost, we couldn't have asked for a better spot.

- Right, so that was another door that was open for you to make that decision.

- It was like, not even just that, I remember we needed to publicly announce it, and there was something about the closing of that site, it's been a couple years now, so forgive me on my memory, but we had to close, but we had to publicly announce it, And so that went through 10 days before that we for sure had that piece of land before it was going to be announced.

And we really didn't want to announce that it was happening without the for sure, and so that was a huge relief.

- Well, then you broke ground and it's been officially opened now since just before COVID - Yep, it was mid-December when we opened and then you guys know in March, everything closed down.

And so, I was just so impressed by the global's policies on how they handled each house and the communication and how they cared for the families because we still had families coming in.

It was actually a lot less because we all know like the flu and stuff, kids weren't getting as sick.

And so it was just perfect timing, like always, just for our staff as we were getting used to how to operate a house, every house is different, it depends on what city you're in, what resources you have.

So our staff has had a lot of time and they were thrown into this new house and they're just doing beautifully by the leadership of global.

- Right, and that had to be kind of challenging just because of COVID and masks and kids who are really ill, you don't want them to catch anything.

- That's true.

What I have heard though, internally from some of the St. Jude staff, is that because everybody is masking, their kids are healthier.

And so that's been a blessing through COVID that there's been so much hard, we hear about the hard, but that's one thing that's really great.

And another thing is those kids are normally masked, in a world that's not, and so for the first time, their spirits are up because they are not the only ones isolated.

Everyone is.

So I think that's really interesting perspective from those families.

- That's kind of a healing thing for them.

Join the crowd.

- Yes.

They don't for the first time don't feel socially awkward in a grocery store.

- [Christine] That's so cute.

So let's talk a little bit about Dax now.

He was just a little guy when he was diagnosed and he made a hit around the world because he loved Christmas lights.

How did everybody find out about that?

- My neighbors.

There was a movie made about it actually.

My neighbors just wanted to help and I'm like, he just wants to look at Christmas lights, that's all he really needs cause everybody wants to help, right?

That's this community, that's this area.

And I'm like, that is what we can do.

Just please ask the neighbors to put up Christmas lights.

- And this was like in October?

- October.

It was before Halloween, and before I knew it, I mean it wasn't just our neighborhood, it was our city and then our country, and then the troops in Baghdad were putting up Dax Christmas lights, CNN was going up and down my street, and it was just like I said, this area is unreal.

- Right, and then a movie made Cherish Every Moment, and the song that was written specifically because of you guys and cute little Dax, and he was even cute with no hair.

- I know, I know.

Yeah, the song, Matthew West, I remember when I got the phone call, I'd actually never heard of Matthew West at the time, and he called me, he's like, ma'am I wrote a song about your son.

I was like, that's so nice of you cause everybody had been sending us things, and I had no idea that he was a Grammy-nominated, major Christian singer.

And I'm like, can you just email me that?

Is what I actually asked him on the phone.

I still am so-- - Did you think it was real or did you just it's like this is some kind of a joke?

- Not a joke.

So many people had written me literally poems and songs and painted pictures of Dax, and I think what was really interesting was the timing of Dax's sickness, it's when social media first hit.

And so I think it was people's first glimpse inside what so many families are living cause we put it out on Facebook, like our CaringBridge posts, and it just became, I think-- - [Christine] Took a life of its own.

- Yep, and I'm just grateful for that.

For that outlet and how it was able to make such a big impact because at the time that was not what I was thinking was happening.

But a lot of times when you step back and look at the big picture, I couldn't be more thankful for all of it.

- So nice to know that you opened that door... you recognized that the door is open for you, and that's happened a lot, all along the way.

Well, any other volunteer opportunities or anything real quick, we have a couple of minutes, that people might need to know about?

Can they help stock the pantry or something?

I mean, if they go to Sam's or Costco, can they buy cases of such and so for the Ronald McDonald House?

- Absolutely, I would recommend going to the website Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois, and contacting the program director there and checking with them that week, what they actually need.

- They have wishlist there.

- Yes, they have a wishlist on there as well but sometimes they just need breakfast sandwiches, individual breakfast sandwiches, so I go to Costco and buy tons of those, like they know exactly what those families... how many vegetarians are in the family.

They're very intentional, which I love, so if you would like, that's a great way to help as well, along with the wishlist.

- That's always good to know.

Always good to know.

And there are families that will still keep coming and still keep occupying the space and thanks to you and your fortitude and your let's get this done, we have to thank you for bringing Ronald McDonald House here and making all those connections.

- It was a big team of us, but thank you.

I'm honored just to be a part of it.

- Well, thank you, Julie Locke Moore, and now we can say that we all know a little bit more about the Ronald McDonald House.

And again, look at that website, look at their wishlist, and if you want to help, I mean, you can't physically help but you can be there to give them some support, please do.

Put that money in the basket too when you can go through the drive through.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Thanks for joining us on Consider This and enjoy your day.