Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, a show where we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is Jernine McBride, Executive Director of the Inland Empire at Ronald McDonald House. It's so nice to meet you. I've already been enjoying talking to you.
Jernine McBride
Thank you. It's great to be here and meet you as well. I'm excited.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, I'm excited just to learn more about the Ronald McDonald House. Can you start by sharing what the Ronald McDonald House charities does, and specifically how the Inland Empire location supports families in our community?
Jernine McBride
So we provide housing for families who have children who are ill or critically ill at the hospitals. We partner with eight local hospitals. Our strongest partnership is with Loma Linda University Medical Hospital. We're literally right across the street from their main campus, which is awesome. And so, the way the program works, we provide those support systems for the families. So their child is in the hospital, they stay at the house so they can be close to their children while they're receiving care. And what's unique about the Inland Empire House, we have a lot of siblings that stay at the house themselves, and also over 85% of the families that stay there are from the Inland Empire.
Maya Gwynn
That's incredible. How long has this organization been around for?
Jernine McBride
Sure. So the Inland Empire location has been around since 1996, and we're part of the Southern California chapter. So there's nine programs, the homes are called programs, and we're the largest chapter globally. And so, when families come, they receive meals. We partner with Family Support Services, which is a team that's overseen by psychologists for that emotional and mental support for the families and also for their children as well. So, even when families leave the home, they can still tap into Family Support services, and then also we do enrichment activities there. So we do family fun clubs, we host a carnival, we do yoga, we do pets of love where they come in and people can play with them. We have music groups come in, so it's really - it's just a really great space to be in.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah. In what ways does your work intersect and support the Black community in the Inland Empire, and why is this representation and access so important, in your opinion?
Jernine McBride
So the Inland Empire program serves the largest population of Black families throughout our chapter, and so looking at the unique needs of those families, right? So a lot of it is transportation limitations. So we have a huge majority of families coming from the High Desert area, right? Victorville, Apple Valley, that area, and also in the low desert, so Coachella Valley as well. So gaining access to the hospital if their child is transferred to Loma Linda for specialty treatment, it's hard for them to gain access to go back and forth. And so being at the house allows them to be in direct access to their child. And research shows even from the hospital, when they have done independent research, when families are close, children tend to heal better and quicker. So having the families there is integral to their healing process.
Maya Gwynn
What are some of the biggest challenges families or individuals face when they come to your organization, and how does your organization help ease the burdens beyond just housing,
Jernine McBride
Sure. So financial instability is a lot. So being away from home, some parents have expressed where they have lost jobs, they've been evicted from apartments. So being at the house allows them to not have to focus on that, right? So they have the housing piece. They also have access to the meals and a large volunteer and support network. So even though we don't provide services once they leave the house, we do try to make sure they're connected with local resources as they start to transition to make that as smooth as possible. And also they start to learn how to navigate the healthcare system.
Maya Gwynn
Can you share a story or a moment that really captures the heart and the impact of the Ronald McDonald House has on families?
Jernine McBride
We've had a couple that came in. Their child, he was a newborn. He needed emergency care, so he was airlifted from Coachella Valley to Loma Linda. And so they came to stay at the house. They thought it would be stay maybe about a month. They ended up being there for almost two years.
Maya Gwynn
Wow!
Jernine McBride
Because their son needed a lot of different treatments, a lot of surgeries and healing, and so they just shared so much about how being there, being able to be so close to their son, really was not just beneficial for the son, but also for them to have that, and then to also be in the community of other families going through something very similar. They had that built-in communal support as well. So now their child, he's older. He's doing - thankfully, he's doing better. He survived. But he still needs a lot of checkup care. So they're still able to come stay at the house whenever he has appointments and they need to be there. They just let us know ahead of time, and they're able to come and spend time here. And now because he's doing so much better, he has stayed at the house himself. So I've got to personally meet him, and it's so cute to see him just transition over my year there, where now he's walking, and he wasn't when I first met him. So it's just been an amazing full circle moment for that.
Maya Gwynn
Absolutely, and can you share how big this house is?
Jernine McBride
Sure, we have 53 rooms. We have three playrooms upstairs, so we have one that's geared for like the younger kids. Toddlers, school-age children. We have a room for teens where it has PlayStations, large screens, and different games. And then we have sort of like a room for parents who may work remote, or for students who need to use the computers for school. We have a huge backyard, so it's amazing. We have playground equipment out there. We also have a garden out there. So our family support services team, their interns last year started gardens. So we've had some strawberries out there. We've had some peppers. So it's been awesome to see them also put their own touch on the house. We have kitchens and dining area. So while we're not a commercial kitchen, it is structured like that. We have two conference rooms. So the community-they're allowed to use our conference rooms at any time. We open it up. We want it to be a community, truly a community resource. We're growing every day and shifting, and it's amazing.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah. What can people donate to the house that would be like the most beneficial?
Jernine McBride
So one of our key things that we ask for is for folks: if you can monetarily make a gift, that would be amazing. And when people ask for the amount, we ask for it to be something that's impactful to them. And so, what that does, we have folks who adopt a room. So, what that means, families that stay in that room while we don't charge anything, it helps to underwrite the cost for the families and to keep the doors open. Also, meal groups, volunteer groups, even families that come out, you can either cater a meal or you can come there and cook a meal as a group, and then you also get to serve the meal to the families, and then also just helping around the house. We have a lot of needs, and so having groups come out to do volunteer service is always amazing. We typically have steady volunteers every Wednesday. They have housing projects that they do, facilities projects. They may even help out at the front desk. They also help with our development team, making stewardship calls and just reaching out to the community. So go to our website, please, and then you can also see our wish list that we have there. And folks can just buy something and automatically gets shipped to the house.
Maya Gwynn
I love that. We're gonna move to our rapid fire portion. If your work had a theme song, what would it be?
Jernine McBride
Oh, that's a good one. I'm gonna say This Girl is On Fire.
Maya Gwynn
If you had to teach a masterclass or give a TED talk on a random skill you have, what would it be?
Jernine McBride
Being able to make things simple, to explain large concepts in a very simplistic manner, that would be a skill.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, that's a really big skill. What's your favorite IE restaurant or landmark that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
Jernine McBride
Don Orange in Redlands. It's small, right, it's locally owned, and I think that is what the IE is about, right? Just community supporting the community and building resources here locally.
Maya Gwynn
I love that, and you already mentioned it, but can you say your website again so people can find out how to support you?
Jernine McBride
Yes, so it's Ronald McDonald - rmhcsc.org/inlandEmpire.
Maya Gwynn
Okay, thank you so much for being here, Jernine.
Jernine McBride
Of course, thank you so much for having me. It's been great.
Maya Gwynn
Of course. Jernine McBride is Executive Director of the Inland Empire Ronald McDonald House. Find this segment and others at kvcr.org/bpie. Support for this segment comes from the M.E.C.C.A. IE Fund at the Inland Empire Community Foundation, advancing racial equity and supporting long-term investments in Black-led organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn. Thank you.
