15 families displaced from Ronald McDonald House after water pipe breaks

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - A place known for helping others now needs some help itself.

Over the weekend, a water pipe broke at the Ronald McDonald House on Oak Street in Minneapolis. It caused extensive damage on the second floor, including family rooms, the program office, storage space, hallways, the elevator and the first-floor family lounge.

The Ronald McDonald House says the good news in all of this is that the donated toys for the kids staying at the house were not damaged.

President and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities, Jill Evenocheck says all of a sudden the alarms went off and it was raining down on the main floor.

“It was a sprinkler pipe that blew apart. We don’t know the reason for that yet. But it went right through the walls and ceilings... it just came down. I don’t know how many hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, but a lot. We just have extensive damage here.” Evenocheck said.

In all, 15 out of 45 rooms at the House were damaged and those 15 families moved into hotels.

“When you have a child in PICU and a mother pregnant who is here by herself with her stuff and she has to move, it is overwhelming. The great thing is we had volunteers and staff who made that happen for her in perfect fashion.” Evenocheck said.

Anyone who would like to donate to help offset repair and replacement costs can click here.

The Ronald McDonald House provides a comfortable and caring home-away-from-home that supports keeping families together and reduces stress during a child’s serious illness. The house typically serves over 5,000 families a year.