Evernham returns favor to charity that helped him (cont'd)

"In this economy, it's a good time to build if you have the money and a good cause to push," she said.

Johnson-Gibson said construction companies in Charlotte have agreed to do much of the work at cost. She said Evernham's donation brings the total of pledges already secured to more than $6 million and that construction could therefore begin within the next 60 days, although the total fund-raising goal for the RMH project is $9 million to ensure that the building can be properly outfitted and assured of at least two years of operating capital.

“

It's very, very important that we and the city of Charlotte see that this place gets built and that it gets used by families for years to come who seek that comfort.

”

-- RAY EVERNHAM

Evernham said he's simply happy to be of help. He also has agreed to serve on the charity's executive board. He said his deep-seated need to serve goes back to those uncertain days in 1992.

"Even though I was from New Jersey, I really didn't know anything about New York. I was just kind of scared to death," he said. "And when we went up there, there was just no way in the world we would have been able to pay for any of that. Ronald McDonald was right around the corner [from the hospital] and they let us stay in there. I think it was $20 a night -- and throughout the course of Ray J's treatment, I probably stayed there 10 times. And I know that my wife [now his ex-wife as he since has divorced and remarried], my mom and Ray J all stayed there a lot more than that.

"It's kind of a safe haven. You can sit and talk to other families. You can read books. You have access to phones and computers, and there are people there who have been through it and are going through it, and you're very close to your child. I don't know that I would have been able to survive if we had had to stay 40 or 50 miles outside the city. I don't know that we would have been able to afford it."

Evernham's son, now 18, "has beaten the leukemia" and recently made his father "very, very proud" by graduating from public high school, but still faces health issues related to autism. Evernham said the entire family could not have made it through Ray J's early diagnosis and treatment without the assistance of the Ronald McDonald House.

"I can't really explain to you what it means to be so lost in a town that you're not familiar with, and with a sick child," Evernham said. "I can tell you that those parents who are going through that in the future [in Charlotte] will find some comfort within these walls. It's very, very important that we and the city of Charlotte see that this place gets built and that it gets used by families for years to come who seek that comfort."

As he delivered the over-sized [in more ways than one] check to RMH officials Thursday, Evernham grinned and joked by assuring them, "This is not one of the championship checks we had reprinted."

Then he hinted at his own fund-raising prowess by adding, "We're going to be twisting the arms of our friends so we can see some more checks like this one."