Closer to Home: Champion Mulch’s New Chapter with Ronald McDonald House Dayton

How Ronald McDonald House Dayton inspired Champion Mulch’s New Local Partnership in Southwest Ohio

In 2025, Champion Mulch & Landscape Supply partnered with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital™ to raise money for childhood cancer research. You showed up. You bought mulch. You put yard signs in your front lawns. You added donations at checkout. And together, we raised support for an organization that does extraordinary work for sick children and their families.

We are grateful for that year. St. Jude cared for Matt’s niece, Maddy, in ways we’ll never forget. Our customers stepped up too, and we’re grateful for every person who participated. We are proud of what we accomplished together. If you missed the story behind that partnership, you can read the full series here:

• Why St. Jude Matters to Us
• Mulch that Matters: How Champion Mulch is Supporting St. Jude
• Beyond Treatment: What Makes St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Special
• Join Champion Mulch in Supporting St. Jude

Now, as we head into 2026, we’re bringing that same commitment closer to home. Champion Mulch is partnering with Ronald McDonald House Dayton to support families with sick children right here in Southwest Ohio.

The $0.50-per-retail-yard of mulch donation is back. The $3 yard sign discount is back. And we’ve added some new ways for customers and local businesses to get involved.

But before we get into the details of the partnership (that’s coming in a future post), we want to share the reason behind this move. Because, like the St. Jude partnership, it starts with family.

The Part of the Story We Haven’t Told Yet

If you followed our St. Jude blog series, you know the story of Matt’s niece Maddy. Diagnosed with ependymoma, a type of brain cancer, at just nine months old. Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Proton radiation therapy at St. Jude in Memphis under the care of Dr. Merchant, one of the leading specialists in the country for her specific type of cancer.

What we haven’t talked about much is where Maddy and her mom, Julie, actually lived during those months of treatment.

They lived at the Ronald McDonald House in Memphis.

For roughly two months, that building was home. Not a hotel. Not a waiting room. Home. And the experience left a mark on Julie and on Matt that has a lot to do with why we’re here now.

What Ronald McDonald House Meant to Julie and Maddy

Julie and Maddy moved into the Ronald McDonald House after an initial stretch in short-term housing near the St. Jude campus. The transition came at a point when the length of treatment became clearer and more permanent housing was needed. Ron, Julie’s husband, and their son, Lucas, who was in kindergarten at the time, stayed back in Ohio. While Julie and Maddy were in Memphis, Matt’s wife, Kasie, along with Matt and Julie’s mom and stepdad, helped support Ron by caring for Lucas as needed. Matt would later travel to Memphis to visit Julie and Maddy during their stay at the Ronald McDonald House.

When Treatment and Distance Collide

The separation was hard. Two months of Julie caring for a toddler going through daily radiation, mostly on her own, in a city far from everyone she knew. Maddy had a difficult time adjusting to the daily sedation required for her treatments, and sleep became a battle for both of them.

“It was a struggle emotionally having to care for her alone when we were both so tired and stressed all the time,” Julie recalls. “But we got through it. We were both homesick, but we got through it one day at a time.”

In the middle of all that, the Ronald McDonald House provided something that may be hard to appreciate unless you’ve been in a similar situation. It provided the ordinary things. The normal, everyday things that disappear when your child is being treated for cancer in a city 500 miles from home.

Everyday Things That Felt Like Home

Each family had their own room. There was a large shared kitchen with individual refrigerator sections so families could store their own food and cook meals they actually wanted to eat. A continental breakfast was available every weekday morning. There was even a pantry that stayed stocked with snacks and easy meals, free for the taking. Churches and local businesses sponsored dinners for everyone several times a week. Washers and dryers were available to anyone who needed them. A shuttle also ran to St. Jude, grocery stores, and nearby shopping centers so families without a car could still get where they needed to go.

For kids, the house had playrooms, craft rooms, and game rooms. There was a playground outside and bikes for the children to ride. When Lucas visited, he loved it. Julie says he still talks about wanting to go back.

Even the parents got small moments of relief. Volunteers would come in to offer quick massages. There were music activities and other events designed to give families a brief break from the weight of what they were carrying.

“They tried to make it as accommodating as they could,” Julie says. “Many families stayed at RMH for up to six months.”

None of it was flashy. There were no grand gestures or big announcements. It was laundry. It was pizza from Domino’s and a two-liter of soda delivered every day if you wanted it. It was a place where you didn’t have to explain to anyone why you were crying in the hallway at midnight, because every other family there understood without being told.

What Matt Saw in Memphis

Matt spent some time visiting Julie and Maddy at both St. Jude and the Ronald McDonald House during treatment. In his own words, the experience was life-changing.

“Spending time with both organizations in Memphis was life-changing for me,” Matt has said. “Watching the children function every day with the help of St. Jude and Ronald McDonald House was amazing. I feel some of those families wouldn’t be able to get the care they needed if it weren’t for those two organizations. I want to do everything I can to help those children and those organizations.”

“I want to do everything I can to help those children and those organizations.”

— Matt, Owner, Champion Mulch & Landscape Supply

That last sentence is worth reading again. Those organizations. Plural. From the beginning, Matt’s desire to give back wasn’t limited to St. Jude alone. The Ronald McDonald House was always part of the picture. St. Jude came first because of the direct connection to Maddy’s medical care. But the Ronald McDonald House sat right alongside it in Matt’s mind as an organization that made a real difference for his family.

When it came time to think about 2026 and what Champion’s next charitable partnership would look like, the conversation kept coming back to the same idea: go local.

Why Local Matters

The decision to partner with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Dayton came down to a few practical realities.

Champion Mulch operates four locations in Southwest Ohio. Our customers live in Dayton, Moraine, Englewood, West Chester, and the surrounding communities. RMHC Dayton is right down the street from our main Valley Street location in Dayton. Our delivery trucks run these roads every day. The families that RMHC Dayton serves are our neighbors. In some cases, they may be our customers.

What a Local Partnership Makes Possible

Supporting a local organization means the impact stays visible. For example, customers can drive past the Ronald McDonald House on Valley Street in Dayton and see the building that their mulch purchases help support. In addition, employees can volunteer there. Looking ahead, we’re planning a golf outing this fall, similar to the one we held for St. Jude in 2025, and being local makes events like that easier to organize and better attended.

There’s also something to be said for the simplicity of a local partnership. With a local relationship, there are fewer layers between Champion and the organization we’re supporting. That means more direct involvement. It also creates more opportunities for our team and our customers to see where the money goes and what it does.

“Champion is here to give good customer service, a good product, and an opportunity to help a great organization with a simple purchase,” Matt has said. That philosophy hasn’t changed. The organization has.

A Natural Fit for Southwest Ohio

And frankly, it’s a good fit. Champion is a Southwest Ohio company. RMHC Dayton is a Southwest Ohio organization. The families they serve come to Dayton for treatment at Dayton Children’s Hospital, Kettering Health Network, Premier Health/Miami Valley Hospital, Brigid’s Path, 4 Paws For Ability, Univ. Of Cincinnati Cancer Center, and Shriners’ Children’s Ohio.

When those families need a place to stay, they go to the Ronald McDonald House. Supporting that work just makes sense for who we are and where we operate.

About Ronald McDonald House Dayton

A lot of people have heard of Ronald McDonald House. Most people have a general sense that it provides housing for families with sick children. But the specifics of what the Dayton chapter does, and how much it’s grown, may surprise you.

Ronald McDonald House Dayton has been serving families since 1980, when its first seven-room house opened at 741 Valley Street across from Dayton Children’s Hospital. It was the 14th Ronald McDonald House in the world. Local McDonald’s owner/operators provided key early support that helped make the House possible, and they’ve remained closely involved ever since.

For nearly two decades, that modest house served families traveling to Dayton for their children’s medical care. But as Dayton Children’s Hospital expanded its oncology, cardiology, and neonatal intensive care specialties, seven bedrooms weren’t enough.

In 1998, the organization moved to a new, purpose-built 14-room facility at 555 Valley Street. The original house on Valley Street was later purchased by Dayton Children’s Hospital and became the home of CARE House, Montgomery County’s children’s advocacy center, so the building continued to serve vulnerable children in a different way.

From One House to Three Programs

By the mid-2010s, the Dayton chapter had grown from a single house into three distinct programs.

The Ronald McDonald House at 555 Valley Street provides overnight lodging for families.

The Ronald McDonald Family Room at Dayton Children’s Hospital, opened in 2016, gives parents a place to eat, shower, and rest just steps from their child’s bedside.

Emmett’s Place at Miami Valley Hospital, opened in 2017, is a Family Room dedicated to NICU families and high-risk pregnant women, created in partnership with the family of Emmett Sorensen.

The Need for Expansion

Even with three programs, demand continued to outpace capacity. In fact, in one recent year, RMHC Dayton served more than 2,500 guests from dozens of counties, states, and countries, and still had to turn away hundreds of families due to a lack of available rooms.

That need drove a major expansion. As a result, a new, roughly 38,000-square-foot Ronald McDonald House has been built at 555 Valley Street, designed to increase capacity from 14 rooms to 42 private guest rooms across three finished floors and a partial basement. The facility was designed specifically for families with hospitalized children: guest suites that accommodate larger families, communal kitchens and dining areas where parents can connect with others going through similar experiences, and indoor and outdoor play spaces, including a sensory garden and a natural play area for children.

The expanded house is now fully open and serving families. It was built to reduce the number of families turned away for lack of space, and the need for community support hasn’t slowed down as Dayton continues to grow as a regional hub for pediatric medicine.

What Ronald McDonald House Provides for Families

Overall, the services RMHC Dayton provides aren’t complicated to explain. But they matter more than most people realize until they’re the ones who need them.

Families staying at the Ronald McDonald House do not pay for their room, meals, or onsite support services. No hotel bill. No charge for the pantry. No fee for laundry, family activities, or the other basics that make day-to-day life easier when a child is in the hospital.

For families traveling from rural Ohio, neighboring states, or, in some cases, other countries, the financial relief alone is significant. In one recent year, for example, RMHC Dayton estimated that it saved families roughly $1.22 million in out-of-pocket costs for lodging, food, and transportation.

Why These Services Matter So Much

But the value goes beyond money. Studies of Ronald McDonald House programs and similar family-centered lodging models consistently show that keeping families close to the hospital improves parents’ rest, involvement in care, and overall experience during treatment. Parents who sleep at a Ronald McDonald House tend to get more rest than those sleeping in hospital chairs, they’re more present for daily care decisions, and they report a more positive experience during what is often the hardest period of their lives.

Some families stay for a few nights. Others stay for months. In some cases, the Dayton house has had families stay for extended periods while their children received complex, long-term treatment. Throughout it all, the house provides a community of people who understand what you’re going through without needing it explained to them.

Julie experienced that firsthand in Memphis. The same model, the same mission, operates right here in Dayton. And now, Champion Mulch is part of supporting it.

What’s Coming in 2026

We’ll share the full details of our partnership with RMHC Dayton in an upcoming blog post, including exactly how the programs work and all the ways you can participate. For now, here’s a quick overview of what’s in store:

How the 2026 Program Will Work

A portion from every retail yard of mulch purchased at any Champion location or online at www.gotochampion.com will be donated to RMHC Dayton throughout 2026.

The yard sign discount returns. Display a Champion Mulch / RMHC Dayton yard sign in your front yard and receive $3 off per cubic yard of mulch.

Add-on donations will be available at checkout. Customers can contribute any amount directly to RMHC Dayton with any purchase.

A new social media program gives customers another way to get involved. Post a photo of your Champion yard sign, tag us, and a rotating monthly sponsor will donate $1 to RMHC Dayton for each post. Every post also earns you an entry into our July 4th Giveaway for a $300 Champion Gift Card.

A fall golf outing is in the works to bring the community together for RMHC Dayton.

Direct donations can be made at any time through the RMHC Dayton donation page. If you’d like your donation connected to Champion Mulch’s partnership, mention Champion Mulch in the comments.

More details on all of these programs are coming soon.

Full Circle

Five years ago, Julie was warming up food in a shared kitchen at the Ronald McDonald House in Memphis while her 14-month-old daughter recovered from another round of radiation down the street. Ron was back in Ohio, trying to keep things together for Lucas. Matt ran the business and made a trip to Memphis when he could. The whole family was stretched thin and holding on.

Maddy is in first grade now. Cancer-free since January 2022. She’s making friends, hitting milestones, and doing the things kids are supposed to do.

Of Course, Ronald McDonald House didn’t treat Maddy’s cancer. Her medical teams at St. Jude and at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus did that. But the Ronald McDonald House gave Julie and Maddy a place to sleep, a kitchen to cook in, a community that understood, and a roof over their heads while the doctors did their work. It kept the family together when everything was trying to pull them apart.

That’s what RMHC Dayton does for families in Southwest Ohio every single day. And now, when you buy mulch from Champion, you’re part of keeping that going.

We didn’t choose RMHC Dayton because it looked good on a flyer. We chose it because our family lived it. Because the need is real, it’s local, and it’s growing. Even with a brand-new 42-room house on Valley Street, hundreds of families were turned away in the years before it opened, simply because there wasn’t enough space. The building is bigger now. The need for support isn’t smaller.

Every yard helps.

---

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why did Champion Mulch switch from St. Jude to RMHC Dayton?
A: We’re incredibly grateful for our 2025 partnership with St. Jude and everything it accomplished. For 2026, we wanted to bring our charitable efforts closer to home by supporting a local organization in Southwest Ohio. RMHC Dayton serves families right here in our community, and our family has a personal connection to Ronald McDonald House through Julie and Maddy’s stay at RMH Memphis during Maddy’s cancer treatment.

Q: How does the RMHC Dayton partnership work?
A: From January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026, Champion Mulch will donate $0.50 from every retail yard of mulch purchased at any of our four locations or online at www.gotochampion.com. We’ll share the full details of all the ways to participate in an upcoming blog post.

Q: Is the yard sign discount still available?
A: Yes. Display a Champion Mulch / RMHC Dayton yard sign in your front yard and receive $3 off per cubic yard of mulch. Signs are available at all Champion locations, or we’ll bring one with your delivery.

Q: Can I still add a donation at checkout?
A: Yes. Customers can add $1, $3, or $5 to any purchase, and 100% of those add-on donations go directly to RMHC Dayton.

Q: What is the social media posting program?
A: New for 2026. Take a photo of your Champion yard sign in your yard, post it on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, and tag Champion Mulch. A rotating monthly sponsor will donate $1 to RMHC Dayton for every post. Each post also earns you one entry into our July 4th Giveaway for a $300 Champion Gift Card. Details are on the flyer you’ll receive with your yard sign.

Q: Can I make a donation without buying mulch?
A: Absolutely.If you’d like to make a direct donation to RMHC Dayton, you can give online at
rmhcdayton.org/donate.
When you give, please mention “Champion Mulch” in the comment or notes section so their team can track gifts that came through this partnership.

Q: What does RMHC Dayton actually do?
A: Ronald McDonald House Charities of Dayton provides free housing and support for families with children receiving medical treatment at area hospitals and other area partners, including Dayton Children’s Hospital, Kettering Health Network, Premier Health/Miami Valley Hospital, Brigid’s Path, 4 Paws For Ability, Univ. Of Cincinnati Cancer Center, and Shriners’ Children’s Ohio. Families pay nothing for their room, meals, or support services. The organization also operates Family Rooms inside Dayton Children’s Hospital and Miami Valley Hospital, where parents can rest and regroup without leaving the building.

Q: Where is the Ronald McDonald House in Dayton?
A: 555 Valley Street, directly across from Dayton Children’s Hospital. The facility recently completed a major expansion and now has 42 guest rooms.

Q: Is Champion Mulch planning any events for RMHC Dayton?
A: Yes. A fall golf outing is in the works, and we’ll share details as they come together. Follow us on social media for updates.

Q: Will there be more information about this partnership?
A: Yes. This is the first of three blog posts. The next post will take a closer look at RMHC Dayton’s programs and the families they serve. The third will cover all the details of how you can participate throughout 2026.

---

From January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026, Champion Mulch & Landscape Supply will donate $0.50 of the purchase price for every retail yard of mulch purchased online at www.gotochampion.com or at participating locations to Ronald McDonald House Dayton to support its mission.

---