On June 11, 2026, at the Angelika Film Center at Mosaic District, Ronald McDonald House Washington DC marked 46 years of keeping families close — with a community film screening, a new brand identity revealed in person for the first time, volunteer recognition, and a story that stopped the room.
In the lobby of the Angelika Film Center, guests arrived at something that felt immediately different. The new Heart House icon — the freshly unveiled logo of Ronald McDonald House Washington DC — appeared on banners, signage, and a welcome table stacked with stickers, custom travel tissue packs, and handy clips.
It was the first time the community was experiencing the new brand identity in person. The new name, logo, and Family Stays platform had launched digitally earlier in the spring. Everything the mission has always been, finally given a visual language to match.
Guests mingled, posed for photos in front of the logo wall, grabbed popcorn and refreshments, and made their way into the theater. What followed was part celebration, part reflection, and entirely moving.
The evening centered on a special community screening of Audrey’s Children — the untold true story of Dr. Audrey Evans, the pioneering pediatric oncologist whose belief that children heal better when their families stay close helped inspire the creation of the first Ronald McDonald House in 1974.
Seeing Dr. Evans’ vision brought to life on screen was a reminder of something worth saying out loud: the idea that family belongs at the heart of pediatric care was once considered radical. It took someone willing to fight for it.
Ronald McDonald House Washington DC has been carrying that fight forward for 46 years.
Before the film, Board Chair Meera Pillai took the stage to welcome guests. Her remarks grounded the evening in both gratitude and purpose — acknowledging the community of supporters in the room while pointing forward to what 46 years of mission-driven work has made possible and what still remains to be done.
President & CEO Kymberly Wolff followed with remarks that drew a clear line between the story about to unfold on screen and the story being written by Ronald McDonald House Washington DC every day. She spoke about the power of family presence in pediatric healthcare — not as a comfort, but as a clinical imperative. She connected Dr. Audrey Evans’ legacy to the families currently staying at both the DC and Northern Virginia Houses. And she reminded everyone in the room that behind every statistic is a family doing whatever it takes to stay close to a child who needs them.
Last year alone, Ronald McDonald House Washington DC provided more than 17,000 family nights and helped save families nearly $2.9 million in lodging, food, and transportation expenses while their children received medical care.
Those numbers are not abstractions. They are bedtimes next to a hospital. Meals that didn’t have to be skipped. Hours that didn’t have to be spent driving, instead of staying.
No account of this evening would be complete without recognizing Neva Van Valkenburg — the longtime McDonald’s owner/operator, board champion, and founding force who helped make the DC House possible in the first place.
Neva was there at the beginning. When the Ronald McDonald House Washington, DC opened in 1980 — the same year she and her late husband Max opened their first McDonald’s restaurant in Lafayette Gallery — she was among the founding members who helped raise the funds needed to open the House. Over the decades that followed, Van Management grew to 25 McDonald’s restaurants. The mission grew alongside it.
More than four decades later, Neva was in the room for the 46th anniversary — smiling in front of the new Heart House banner, a living bridge between the chapter’s founding and its future.
She has said, simply: “I received more than I gave.”
Judging by what she helped build, that is a profound act of humility.
The film was the centerpiece. The families are the mission. And the volunteers are the ones who make the House feel like a home.
During the program, two exceptional volunteers were honored with Volunteer Excellence Awards.
Christian Peterson received the NoVA House Volunteer Excellence Award. Since 2021, Christian has shown up for families through Guest Services, Welcome Desk support, Housewarming events, and the Red Shoe 5K. Her warmth and empathy have created lasting impressions on families from around the world, navigating some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
Cindy L. Tyler received the DC House Volunteer Excellence Award. After discovering the House following retirement, Cindy became a trusted source of comfort and connection for families staying at the DC House. Through her compassion, humility, and generosity, she has created countless moments of belonging for families who needed exactly that.
Together, Christian and Cindy represent what happens when community members decide that showing up is enough — and then keep showing up, week after week, year after year.
After the film, the lights came up.
Vice President of Community Engagement, Josh Bokee, introduced someone he described as a very special guest. And then Daphne Birdsinger walked to the microphone and told her family’s story.
She started at the beginning.
Her husband Shane had a connection to Ronald McDonald House long before they met — he worked as a liaison between Southwest Airlines and the Northern Virginia House, helping coordinate volunteers to serve meals. He and his crew have maintained a longstanding tradition of frying turkeys and providing Thanksgiving meals to both the DC and Virginia Houses. Shane and his friends were among the original participants of the Red Shoe 5K when it launched in 2013.
When the second race came in 2014, Shane and Daphne had been dating. He suggested they run it together. On a cold, rainy March morning, they crossed the finish line together — faces wet from rain and sweat. Daphne looked up and saw her brother. Her entire family. A dozen friends. When she turned around, Shane was there with a ring, cramped from running and unable to get down on one knee.
He proposed to her at the Red Shoe 5K.
She said yes.
And then — as Daphne described it — only what can be explained as something divine, her family’s story became more deeply intertwined with Ronald McDonald House than she ever could have imagined.
In April 2015, at 32 weeks pregnant, Daphne and Shane welcomed their son Clifford James into the world. He was a premature baby, and early tests indicated he would need specialized care. Within days, Clifford was transferred to Children’s National Hospital in DC, where further evaluation revealed he would require a trach, a G-tube, and a ventilator.
The first night, Daphne and Shane had to leave Clifford in the NICU and drive more than an hour home to Herndon.
“I woke at 4:00 AM with a frantic feeling,” Daphne told the room, “knowing that my son, whom I’d carried close to me for seven months, was now over an hour away with strangers.”
She knew she needed to be with him. She didn’t know how she would make that possible.
Then Shane remembered the Ronald McDonald House.
For just shy of three months, the House became home — only a ten-minute shuttle ride from Clifford’s bedside. It gave the Birdsingers more than a place to sleep. It gave them time. Real, irreplaceable time: late-night kangaroo care skin-to-skin sessions made possible only because they were living so close. Morning rounds were attended because Daphne could be at the hospital by 8:00 AM without a grueling commute. Hours and days that added up to something that cannot be measured in statistics.
“Time with family helps children to do more than survive,” Daphne said. “It helps them to thrive.”
Clifford thrived. For ten remarkable years, he and his family set goals and kept them: to experience love, to express love, and to experience God’s creation with the time they were given. Clifford faced significant medical challenges every day. He met them.
Almost exactly one year before this evening — on June 9th, 2025 — Clifford had his last moments with his family.
The theater was quiet.
Daphne continued.
She spoke about what those first three months meant. About how the closeness the House made possible in Clifford’s earliest days — those late-night sessions, those morning rounds, that simple nearness — shaped everything that followed.
About how families like hers live one day at a time, one hour at a time, with a constant awareness of how precious each moment is. And about how Ronald McDonald House gives families the gift of presence when presence is the most important thing they can give.
When she finished, she thanked the volunteers, the staff, the donors, and everyone who had kept this mission alive long enough for her family to need it and then long enough for her family to give back to it.
“Sorry — that was more than a few words,” she said.
The room laughed. And then it applauded. And then it was quiet again for a moment, the way a room gets quiet when something true has just been said.
The evening closed the way it should — with community, coffee and something sweet.
Guests gathered upstairs for desserts and coffee courtesy of McDonald’s Owner/Operators Betty Interiano and MCD Mateos — one more example of the McDonald’s family showing up for the House the way they always have.
Before leaving, each guest was invited to take home a commemorative Heart House lapel pin — the new icon, small enough to wear, large enough to carry a message.
“Take a little heart with you.”
The cards stacked on the welcome table read: “New look.” Same mission. Even more heart.
That is exactly right. The Heart House icon is new. The name — Ronald McDonald House Washington DC — is the same one that has meant something to families for 46 years. And the heart behind it all? That has never been anything less than extraordinary.
The Birdsingers still participate in the Red Shoe 5K. They still stock the kitchen with healthy snacks. They still provide Thanksgiving turkeys. They still show up — because that’s what this community does. The care they received became care they give. The support they found became the support they provide.
That is the story of Ronald McDonald House Washington DC. Not just one family’s story. Not just 46 years of history. It is a living, ongoing act of community that will matter to families tonight, and tomorrow, and in the years ahead.
The Annual Red Shoe 5K returns Sunday, October 4th, at National Harbor. Join us.
Forty-six years later, the mission remains the same: ensuring families can stay together when a child needs healthcare.
There is a place for everyone in that mission.
When a child needs healthcare, Family Stays.
Ronald McDonald House Washington DC provided more than 17,000 family nights in 2025, with 35 healthcare partners and an average savings of $5,500 per family stay. Since 1980, the DC House has provided 317,000+ nights of rest to families navigating the pediatric healthcare system.
CJ’s Pediatric Promise Fund shares a commitment to supporting families navigating some of life’s most difficult journeys. Through direct assistance, special requests, meaningful experiences, and moments of joy, the organization helps children with life-limiting illnesses and complex medical needs — easing burdens and bringing comfort when it matters most.
We are grateful for their partnership and their promise to continue supporting Ronald McDonald House Washington DC families throughout the year with flowers, gifts, and special experiences.
Learn more about their inspiring work: www.cjspediatricpromise.org
