An upscale downtown hotel is continuing to offer seasonal support for the Ronald McDonald House to ensure the sick children have as normal a Christmas as possible.
For the third consecutive year, Fairmont Palliser's ‘Room at the Inn’ program is offering a number of free night stays to the extended family of Ronald McDonald House guests.
“We’ve learned that Christmas time and the holidays are the most important time where family needs to be nearby,” said Jacqueline Tyler, Fairmont Palliser communications manager. “It’s often a time when we do have room at the hotel and we thought why not open our doors and give room at the hotel to support those families to be able to get through the hard times and just be together when they need each other the most.”
In addition to the free rooms, Fairmont Palliser is offering Trees of Hope, a discounted hotel package, to the public with a portion of the sales assisting the Ronald McDonald House. The hotel is also selling Christmas ornaments in the lobby with all proceeds benefitting the charity.
Larry Mathieson of the Ronald McDonald House of Southern Alberta says the hotel’s generosity will be of great assistance during a busy 2015 Christmas season.
“This year we know we’re going to be very busy because last Friday we had 31 families on the waiting list so even if every room in the house emptied out, which it won’t but if it did, we would fill it right back up again,” explained Mathieson. “A lot of our kids can’t go home and, for medical reasons, they have to be close to the hospital even if they don’t have to be in the hospital.”
“The Palliser allows us to bring extended family to those kids.”
Tyler says the hotel has received heartwarming stories of appreciation from the families they’ve been able to unite during the holidays in years past.
