The board of trustees of Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern Nevada announced the hire of Laurie Gorris as the new executive director of the charity. The Reno Ronald McDonald House provides a free place for families to stay when their children are hospitalized far from home, due to inadequate access of necessary care in their area. Families in need rely on the organization, and the organization relies on the support of community volunteers and donors in order to operate and serve. Gorris is stepping into the role with 20 years of experience working with nonprofit groups in northern Nevada.
“Laurie is an important piece in the Ronald McDonald House mission to continue serving families in the region, and has a unique passion to help the people in our community” said Carol Martin, board president of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northern Nevada. “With Laurie leading the charge, we can move forward with showing the community the positive work our organization accomplished in the last few years and in turn, help even more families in 2019.”
Gorris has strong ties to the northern Nevada community where she has lived, worked and raised a family for the past 40 years. She started her nonprofit career with the Boy & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, and later worked with several other regional nonprofits including the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Northern Nevada, Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada, Food Bank of Northern Nevada and JDRF Northern Nevada.
“There is so much I’m hoping to accomplish within this new role,” Gorris said. “I believe this organization is a hidden gem in northern Nevada, and I want to expand our mission to help more families in need, and also reach out to the community as a whole to support the efforts of the charity.”
In total, Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern Nevada helped 812 families in 2017, according to the most recent report. There were 1,568 appointments made through the mobile outreach clinic, 33 trips taken in the Travel-for-Treatment Program, and 5,201 individuals served in the Family Room at Renown Children’s Hospital. Gorris expects that the numbers are similar for 2018, and hopes to increase those numbers for the coming year.
For more information about Ronald McDonald House Northern Nevada, please visit rmhc-reno.org.