The pretty 10-year-old is happily parked at a computer, while her mom relaxes in a comfy chair, and dad chases her baby brother around the playroom.
Family time at home after a long day at work?
No. It's family time at the brand new, bright and airy Ronald McDonald House in Tucson after a long day of surgery.
"I can't tell you how great it is to be able to come here after being at the hospital all day," said Cathy Dominguez Goodwin, whose family traveled to Tucson this week from their home in Yuma, so their daughter Shannon, 10, could undergo surgery at University Medical Center.
Instead of paying at least $100 a night for a hotel room, and hundreds more for meals for the family, Cathy, husband Dan, their toddler Jacob and Shannon have a spacious room at the new Ronald McDonald House for $15 a night and virtually free meals.
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Almost every evening, a volunteer group — a church, a UA sorority, a service club — comes in to cook dinner for the families staying there.
"This is beautiful," Cathy Goodwin said, as she finally relaxed in the "family room," while her children played around her. "It really boils down to having a place with a family setting, where the children can run around, and play, and actually have fun.
"In a hotel, you would be forcing the kids to be quiet most of the time. Here they have freedom. It just takes a whole lot of stress off the family to be able to stay here. We tell everyone we know about this place and how it has affected our lives."
This is among the newest of the 300 Ronald McDonald Houses scattered worldwide, to shelter and nurture families who must travel to get their children to medical care for severe and life-threatening illnesses.
The Goodwins have been frequent fliers at Tucson's Ronald McDonald House since Shannon was born severely premature, and with cerebral palsy, a decade ago. They estimate the privilege has saved them tens of thousands of dollars in hotel and restaurant bills while Shannon has undergone multiple surgeries related to her underdeveloped lungs and other complications of prematurity.
Until this year, they stayed at the original Ronald McDonald on East Speedway near Tucson Boulevard — a lovely, historic, but quite old and always crowded house that had sheltered out-of-town families since 1981.
But as the demand far outgrew the size of that building — forcing hundreds of families to be turned away every year — a capital campaign was launched four years ago to raise some $4 million in corporate and private donations to build a new and bigger home away from home.
The success of that drive climaxed with the new "house that love built" — as Ronald McDonald Houses across the U.S. are often called — welcoming its first families on Dec. 23. The formal grand opening will be celebrated on Sunday.
Located on East Allen Road, just off North Campbell Avenue, the two-story, stucco building is next door to the new UMC North, site of the Peter and Paula Fasseas Cancer Clinic, and just a couple miles up Campbell from UMC's main campus.
Sitting on an acre donated by UMC, the new house more than doubles the size and holding capacity of the old one — at 24,000 square feet, with 28 private rooms, each with a private bath. Twelve of those rooms are in a separate isolation wing, for families of children with immune systems suppressed by cancer treatment or transplant surgery.
The new House "draws you in the minute you cross its threshold," Diana Sheldon, executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern Arizona, said in a news release announcing Sunday's celebration.
"You can feel the warmth and love of our House volunteers, smell the aroma of fresh baked pies and cookies, see moms and dad share their support of one another, and hear the laughter of children when Ronald McDonald stops by to do magic tricks and sings songs."
On the ground floor, families can enjoy child and adult computer rooms, a huge four-unit kitchen, an outdoor patio, a playroom, a family room and a dining room, with a spectacular view of the Catalina Mountains.
"This place is just bright and cheery and colorful, and everything is so much bigger, roomier" said Floy Chick, who was flown to Tucson on Jan. 23 to deliver her tiny premature daughter, Zoe, after only 27 weeks of pregnancy. The family could be here as long as three more months.
And she added, "I love the private bathrooms, I have to admit."
In the old House, the 16 families it could hold had to share the seven bathrooms.
In addition to a bath, each private room has two queen beds and an entertainment center with a television.
"I cannot even imagine what it would cost us if we couldn't stay here — I can't even calculate that," Chick said. "There is just no way to thank the staff here enough for all they have done for us."
How to help
Although it costs about $85 a night to shelter a family at the Ronald McDonald House, each family pays only $15 a night, or stays for free if they cannot afford that.
As a result, the house is always in need of financial contributions as well as household items and volunteers. You can contact the house by calling 326-0060 or at www.rmhctucson.org
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