Mayor, Carrot Top break ground at new Ronald McDonald House

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, comedian Carrot Top and others took part in a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday for a second Ronald McDonald House Charities facility in the Las Vegas Valley.

“This is huge for all families who are in a medical crisis who have a critically ill or injured child in the hospital,” Alyson McCarthy, CEO of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas.

The nonprofit group has waited two years to start construction on the central valley location near O’Bannon Drive and Edmond Street. To help fund the house, the Englestad Foundation gave a $1 million donation check to the charity Tuesday morning.

“For us to have a second Ronald McDonald House is the most beautiful thing for the city,” Goodman said.

‘Making a difference’

For nearly 25 years, the first Ronald McDonald facility in the valley has been giving families a place to stay as their young ones recover from their medical procedures.

“Research shows that when parents are by their child’s bedside and directly engaged in their care, these children cope better,” McCarthy said. “In some cases, they heal faster and they need less pain medication.”

McCarthy said she has seen the effect having a home in a time of crisis does for families, including the Harmon family.

The family was moving in 2019 when they made a trip to their storage unit. Ronasia Harmon said she received a call that her two younger sons and her husband were injured in a crash. When she arrived at the scene, she realized the severity of the crash upon learning her husband had suffered broken bones, while one son, Joshua Harmon, suffered two broken femurs, and the other a concussion.

“Something for me that was so traumatizing actually turned into a wonderful experience. My kids are alive — they all healed,” Ronasia Harmon said. “They said Joshua wouldn’t be walking, but he’s now walking.”

She credits the Ronald McDonald House Charities for helping them through the trying time, noting those working there jumped in and treated them like family.

“The need of the second house, I don’t think people understand how important it is,” Ronasia Harmon said. “The things that they do for families during traumatic events and situations is amazing.”

‘Michael would be very happy’

Two years ago, John Paul Kernahan donated the land for the second house in the valley in memory of his late partner Michael Linsk, who, Kernahan said, left the land for the kids to share the love with them.

“All I can say is that Michael would be very happy,” Kernahan said, while holding back tears. “He always loved kids. He was a wonderful person.”

Eight individual dwelling units at the house will wrap around a central courtyard, designed to provide a space to meet as a community, said Dwayne Eshenbaugh, the principal architect for Novus Architecture.

Eshenbaugh said he has strived to do work in the community that makes a difference. “And I can’t think of a better project,” he said of the second Ronald McDonald home.

The Ronald McDonald nonprofit has raised $4 million out of the $5 million needed to complete the house, and it has one year to gather the final million from the public, McCarthy said.

After the speakers stuck their shovels in the ground and turned over shovelfuls of dirt, McCarthy made one more appeal.

“Now we need your help,” she said. “You can help by making a financial contribution that is meaningful to you. There is no donation that is too small.”

Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0350. Follow @jimi_writes on Twitter.