Ronald McDonald House Charities Alberta board of directors member Craig Elder (Photo courtesy of Colton McKee)

By Scott Roblin

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MEDICINE HAT, AB – The newest member on the Ronald McDonald House Charities Alberta board of directors says he’ll advocate for the organization’s much anticipated project locally.

Craig Elder has accepted a three-year term with RMHC Alberta as their latest director and will help guide the organizations direction over that span.

A longtime supporter of the non-profit, Elder said it’s a personal initiative for him.

“My kids were born pre-maturely, I have twins,” said Elder. “We spent four weeks in Calgary and we had family there, so it was easy for us to be able to be there for that extended period of time. But, we know that for a lot of families coming from outside of major centres like that, it’s not easy if they don’t have family.”

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Elder, a vice-president with RBC Dominion Securities, has been involved with various non-profit organizations in Medicine Hat and is a donor for the Medicine Hat project.

“I’ve put money forward and I want to make sure this thing succeeds,” said Elder. “When they were looking for local representation on the board I put my hand up and said I’d be interested if they’re interested in me.”

Elder will be joining the board as the Medicine Hat house is nearing completion in the coming months, set to join Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer as communities with these homes.

“It’s always good to have a community voice wherever these houses are because we know what’s going on here,” said Elder. “You can have the local management team have someone to directly connect with on the board level.”

Construction on the Medicine Hat project has been slow in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing the opening date to early summer.

Exterior view of Medicine Hat’s Ronald McDonald House in June 2020 (Photo courtesy of Colton McKee)

That timeline has now been stretched into the fall according to Elder, though they’re getting close to putting the finishing touches on the build.

“It’s coming together and is pretty close to being complete,” said Elder. “It’s just really fine tuning a few things, getting some landscaping done and a few outside things finished.”