It All Started With One Man Who Couldn’t Ignore the Pain
In the early 1980s, Frank Landgraff walked the halls of a children’s hospital in Philadelphia and saw something that would haunt him for the rest of his life:
A mother sleeping upright in a plastic chair. Her child, fighting for their life just down the hallway.
There was no hotel. No warm bed. No place to grieve, breathe, or rest. Only exhaustion, fear, and isolation.
Frank couldn’t unsee it. And he couldn’t accept that this was “just the way it is.”
That moment changed everything.
The Gap No One Else Was Filling
At the time, Greenville didn’t have a Ronald McDonald House. Despite a growing children’s hospital and rising demand, families were still forced to sleep in cars, wait in sterile lobbies, or drive hours back and forth just to stay near their children.
Frank—a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and McDonald’s Owner/Operator—wasn’t the kind of man to wait for someone else to step up.
He fought. He fundraised. He rallied.
And in 1989, the doors of Greenville’s first Ronald McDonald House opened.
It had 12 rooms, a kitchen, and a mission as bold as Frank himself:
No family should ever face medical crisis alone.
From One Man’s Vision to 12,000+ Families Served
Frank didn’t stop once the House opened. For the next 36 years, he was its tireless champion—serving on the board, shaping its future, guiding leaders, and showing up for families when they needed it most.
In 2015, during a major expansion, someone scratched his initials into the wet concrete foundation. A small but powerful reminder:
This House was built on love. And Frank’s hands helped lay every brick.
By 2018, the House doubled in size. Today, we’ve served more than 12,000 families. What started as one man’s vision is now a campus of care—named in his honor:
The Frank A. Landgraff Memorial Campus.
Stand With Us and Carry His Mission Forward
Frank passed away in early 2025. But his spirit lives in every meal, every room, and every child’s smile inside these walls.
This October, as we prepare for Giving Tuesday, we’re not just fundraising.
We’re reintroducing the legacy of a man who built this House on love—and asking you to help us build what’s next.
🧡 Donate. Share. Stand with us.
Because no family should ever face the hardest day of their life without a place to call home.
