AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — The Ronald McDonald House of Amarillo is all about serving families.

“The majority of families who come stay at the Ronald McDonald House in Amarillo are from the 26 counties of the Texas Panhandle, Eastern New Mexico, and the Oklahoma Panhandle,” said Luke Oliver, Marketing and Communications Manager for the Ronald McDonald House in Amarillo. “But we’ve served families anywhere from Florida to California, Canada to Australia.”

Oliver told myhighplains.com that any family that’s coming to Amarillo to receive medical care for their child, or a family that’s passing through but has a medical emergency is able to stay at the house.

Here’s how it works.

“All families who stay at the Ronald McDonald house are referred by a caseworker, a social worker at the hospital or a medical service provider. So that could be the head charge nurse, it could be you know, their doctor, dentist, someone that’s providing that direct care to the family,” Oliver explained.

The Ronald McDonald House, Oliver said, aims to provide a sense of normalcy during a chaotic season for families, so they make it feel like a home away from home.

“Every family that comes and stays here is going to have their own private guestroom. With a bathroom, they’re gonna have communal living and dining and play spaces, we’re able to provide transportation to those families,” he noted.

Oliver says it’s made possible in because of relationships with the local medical community and area McDonald’s restaurants.

“All the McDonald’s stores in our region help to support our events, they help to bring awareness to the house, they collect the change, you can, you know, leave money in the donation boxes, we get all of those funds for our charity, and then they all donate one penny per happy meal sold, which might not seem like it’s a lot, but they sell a lot of happy meals,” he said.

Serving area families one meal, one season at a time.