The next phase of renovations to the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island in New Hyde Park set to take place this summer will include the additions of several bedrooms, kitchens, common areas and laundry rooms as well as new fitness and meditation centers, officials announced on Thursday.
The makeover, the second part of the child health care facility’s Project Design initiative, will bring together more than 45 builders and interior designers and culminate in an Oct. 9 gala in which the finished rooms will be unveiled.
The Ronald McDonald House on Thursday will host a Designer Kickoff Luncheon at 10:30 a.m. that officials said will feature many of the project’s designers and supporting families.
The first phase – for which $2 million in design, materials and labor were donated – was completed last summer. It included a redesign and renovation to the Ronald McDonald House’s 18 bedrooms, four kitchens, breakfast room, five common areas, first-floor restrooms and three laundry rooms.
Ronald McDonald House officials said the second phase will more than double the size of the facility, creating 24 new bedrooms, four kitchens, five common areas and laundry rooms.
Leading the renovations will be the facility’s design chair, Suzanne Costa, and honorary design chairs Anthony Baratta and Bunny Williams, officials said.
They’ll be aided by Brian Patrick Flynn, an HGTV contributor and host of the TBS network’s “Movie & a Makeover” program; Elaine Griffin, a former contestant on NBC’s “American Builders;” Libby Langdon, of NBC’s “Daykover;” Leslie Segrete, of TLC’s “While You Were Out” and “Trading Spaces;” as well as several others who worked on the first phase of the initiative and students from the New York School of Interior Design, officials said.
Located on the campus of the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, the Ronald McDonald House provides temporary housing for families with children suffering with catastrophic illnesses.
Approximately 80 percent of the children of families who stay at the house are being treated at the Cohen Children’s center, with the remainder being treated at other area hospitals.
The house, which was expanded to 40 bedrooms in 2005, has served 18,000 families since its inception.
