SYRACUSE -- 14 months after the first shovels hit the ground, the new Ronald McDonald House on East Genesee Street is almost complete.
Beth Trunfio, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House of Syracuse, says that when it’s finished the new house will be much bigger than the current one and it will give families of seriously ill children a place to call home.
"The current home is [about] 10,000 square feet, and the new home that we are standing in is 35,000 square feet. So there is a lower level that we are on and the main floor, and there are three floors above us, so it's quite large," Trunfio says.
Each of the 25 private rooms in the new Ronald McDonald House come with its own private bath and are fully handicap accessible.
Down on the main floor there are two state of the art kitchens that Trunfio says are designed to be a gathering place for families.
"The kitchen is really coming together. The cabinets are just being installed and it is really going to be a lovely family kitchen," she says.
Much of the work for the Ronald McDonald House has been donated.
Trunfio says if not for the generosity of the community, this new house would never have been built.
"This has been a broad based community effort. It has taken many hearts to build this one home," she says.
Groundbreaking for the new Ronald McDonald house is scheduled for mid September.
