Tide and RMHC® spoke with the Hart family, who faced a difficult journey when their son, Oliver, was admitted to McMaster Children’s Hospital at just six weeks old due to a respiratory illness. During their 35-day stay at McMaster Children’s Hospital, they utilized the services of the Ronald McDonald Family Room® inside the hospital, supported by RMHC® South Central Ontario, where the ability to do laundry provided them with a crucial sense of normalcy amidst the stress.
With Tide Loads of Hope’s support, RMHC® across Canada has made meaningful improvements to enhance their laundry facilities to better serve families.
Today, on National Laundry Day, Tide Loads of Hope and RMHC across Canada are celebrating the positive impact of Tide’s partnership.
TORONTO, April 15, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In honour of National Laundry Day, Tide, Canada’s #1 trusted laundry detergent brand*, and Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®) Canada are celebrating the impact of Tide Loads of Hope’s commitment to providing families with the comforts of home by enhancing and expanding laundry programs at Ronald McDonald House® and Ronald McDonald Family Room® program locations across the country.
To illustrate the real-life impact of these initiatives, Tide and RMHC® spoke with the Hart family, who faced a difficult journey when their son, Oliver, was admitted to McMaster Children’s Hospital at just six weeks old due to a respiratory illness. During their 35-day stay at McMaster Children’s Hospital, they utilized the services of the Ronald McDonald Family Room® inside the hospital, supported by RMHC® South Central Ontario, where the ability to do laundry provided them with a crucial sense of normalcy amidst the stress.
"A lot of your time in the hospital is spent comforting, whereas laundry allows you to do something with your hands so that you can see a physical way of helping," says Oliver’s mom, Eryn. "It's important as parents to at least feel a little bit human while you're going through this difficult experience, so having the laundry there gives you a sense of control while everything else feels a little out of control."
With Tide Loads of Hope’s support, RMHC® across Canada has made meaningful improvements to enhance their laundry facilities to better serve families. This includes:
Ronald McDonald House Charities Manitoba: Constructed a dedicated laundry facility for immunocompromised families to ensure safety and prevent cross-contamination.
Ronald McDonald House Charities Newfoundland & Labrador: Transformed their existing laundry area with new commercial washers and dryers, revamped counter space, and new storage cabinets to address previous space limitations.
Ronald McDonald House Charities Toronto: Processed over 100,000 loads of laundry in 2024; new high-capacity machines will enable them to handle the same volume 33 per cent faster so they can focus their efforts on where it is truly needed.
Manoir Ronald McDonald de Québec: Improved their laundry room with new, efficient laundry machines, the addition of a more practical folding and storage area for families, and cosmetic updates to provide a more welcoming atmosphere.
"We just opened up a new Ronald McDonald Family Room® at Marotta Family Hospital in St. Catherines last September, and we’ve seen over 2,500 visits each month," says Mario De Divitis, CEO, RMHC® South Central Ontario. "You can't speed up laundry. But for our families, that's 45 minutes to sit, map out the rest of their day, reconnect, talk about their fears, and talk about what the next journey is going to look like."
Tide’s meaningful impact will continue in 2025 with programmatic enhancements in Toronto, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Saskatchewan slated for completion by year-end.
"We are extremely grateful for Tide’s continued support of families with seriously ill and injured children through the Tide Loads of Hope program," says Kate Horton, President and CEO of RMHC Canada. "Across the country, RMHC enables more than 540,000 loads of laundry annually, but really, together we're creating space for independence, stability, support and bringing comforts of home to families navigating their child’s medical journey."
"Tide and Ronald McDonald House Charities share a commitment to supporting families during their most challenging times," says P&G Fabric Care Brand Director, Dimitris Koufos. "The Tide Loads of Hope program offers hope and comfort through the essential need for clean clothing. Caring for a seriously ill child can be all-consuming, and we are proud to help more families across Canada by ensuring that every load of laundry does a load of good."
To learn more about how you can support Ronald McDonald House Charities® across Canada, please visit: https://www.rmhccanada.ca/donate
*Voted most trusted laundry detergent by Canadian shoppers based on the 2024 BrandSpark® Canadian Trust Study
About Tide Loads of Hope
For more than fifteen years, Tide Loads of Hope has provided renewed hope and optimism through the basic comfort of clean clothing following a natural disaster. Created in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the program has benefitted over 90,000 families across the U.S. and Canada. Now, Tide Loads of Hope is expanding the program to include other moments of need where access to clean clothes is essential.
About Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC®) Canada
In Canada, two out of three families live outside a city with a children's hospital and must travel for treatment if their child is seriously ill or injured. The impact of RMHC across Canada is far reaching as today, one in four Canadians have either stayed with RMHC or know someone who has. More than a place to stay, RMHC program locations across Canada give families the support and resources they need so they can focus on what matters most – caring for their child. The 16 Ronald McDonald House® programs provide out-of-town families with holistic support and services such as meal, mental health and wellness programming, while the 19 Ronald McDonald Family Room® programs provide a comfortable place for families to rest, recharge and fuel without having to leave the hospital. For more information, please visit rmhccanada.ca.
