Yorkshire Three Peak Challenge helps raise money for three rooms at Ronald McDonald House

The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge is not for the fainthearted. A small team from Ambassadeurs Group (AG) discovered just how tough it was when they took on the 24-mile walking challenge, travelling from London to complete the hiking challenge over one weekend, to help raise funds for Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC).

They did it in support of Phoebe Melly, senior finance business partner at AG, who has been using the charity after the premature birth of her baby boy, Bertie. The circular walk summits the peaks of Pen-y-ghent (694m), Whernside (736m), and Ingleborough (723m) in less than 12 hours. AG raised £39,000 through a combination of sponsorship of the Three Peaks Challenge and through donations in Les Ambassadeurs Club.

The money raised will fund three rooms at RMHC’s Evelina House in St Thomas’ Hospital in London for a year, allowing families to be close to their children in hospital care. It costs £35 to accommodate a family for one night at a Ronald McDonald House; the average length of stay at houses is 16 nights. For some families like Phoebe’s the stay is much longer – over 15 weeks. The three rooms, called The Strand, Pall Mall and Oxford Street, will help more families like Phoebe’s.

“It costs us nearly £20,000 per day to “keep the lights on” across our 14 Houses so that we can support up to 530 families every night of the year. Your generous fundraising to adopt three rooms means that families will be able to have free accommodation in our comfortable “home away from home” without the added worry of where to stay and the associated costs of hotels and travel, while maintaining a routine surrounded by others who understand what they are experiencing.” – Ella Joseph, CEO Ronald McDonald House Charities UK

Bertie arrived fifteen weeks premature, and he acquired an infection from pre-term labour. He was immediately transferred to St Thomas’ Hospital in London, where there is a specialist neonatal unit that supports babies who are born under 28 weeks’ gestation. The family lived an hour away from the hospital. ‘The journey back and forth would be exhausting, and the travel costs would quickly start to add up. We considered finding accommodation nearby, however this wasn’t a financially viable option given the central London location,’ said Phoebe.

The answer was RMHC. The houses are located as close as possible to specialist children’s hospitals across the UK, and there was one that supported families being cared for in the Evelina Unit of St Thomas’ Hospital. The charity aims to ensure families can be by their child’s bedside when they need to be – whilst also maintaining as much of a normal life as possible, and at the same time reducing the emotional and financial strain that comes with an ill child.

‘This truly incredible charity provides invaluable support to families going through a difficult time,’ said Phoebe. ‘Every donation, no matter how big or small, has a real-life impact that we have witnessed first-hand. Our mission is to raise as much awareness as possible for this deserving charity so that they can continue to help the families who need it.”

For Phoebe, it has been a place of calm and support during a long period of intense stress. ‘The amazing staff continually go above and beyond to make the house feel like a home away from home,’ she says. ‘Bertie still has a few hurdles to face until he is able to come home, but thankfully we are able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House until he is discharged.’