Port Colborne family honours late daughter with Ronald McDonald House fundraiser

A Port Colborne family is keeping the memory of their daughter alive while helping other families facing some of their toughest days.

They are giving back to a place they once called their second home.

“Kiesha was a very happy-go-lucky little girl. She was always giggling and smiling — loved to give hugs to everybody,” said Tammy Embrey, Kiesha’s mother.

When Kiesha was born, doctors gave her four months to live and little chance of doing even the most basic things.

“We were able to get her to sit with help. We got her to walk with a walker. She was able to say mommy, daddy,” Embrey said.

Kiesha went on to live for 18 years. She died on Christmas Day 2023.

Her mother, Tammy, and the Embrey family are still grappling with that loss — a loss they have turned into a gift for families of children receiving medical treatment.

“It was hard. We spent a lot of time in the hospital. At the Ronald McDonald House — that was our second home all throughout her 18 years,” Embrey said.

For years, it was a place the Embrey family came when they needed help. Today, one of the rooms carries Kiesha’s name, and her family is making sure it is there for the next family that needs it.

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Since 2024, they have hosted a memorial fundraiser called Kiesha’s Crusade, after Ronald McDonald House South Central Ontario in Hamilton offered to put her name on a room.

The goal is to raise $5,000 every year.

“It goes to families that can’t afford to stay at the house and their room is paid for in memory of Kiesha,” Embrey said.

“We ask families to contribute $12 a night to stay here at our Ronald McDonald House,” said Meaghan Moore, director of programs and external relations at Ronald McDonald House.

“Our actual costs are well over $250 a night. And so through this room adoption, through this $5,000 donation, the Embreys are helping offset that cost for families so that financial constraint or ability is never a factor for someone to stay here at the Ronald McDonald House,” Moore said.

On Saturday, Sept. 12, Kiesha’s Crusade will be back raising money for the house at Brebeuf Hall in Port Colborne.

It is the Embreys’ way of thanking Ronald McDonald House for supporting them through some of their most difficult days, and for honouring Kiesha in a place they came to call their second home.

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