DURHAM -- Dignitaries put ceremonial shovels in the ground Wednesday for a 25,000-square-foot addition to the Ronald McDonald House on Alexander Avenue.
Mayor Bill Bell said the addition is "desperately needed" at the 29-room residence for families with children undergoing treatment at Duke Medical Center.
"We turn away 700 families a year" for lack of space, said Ric Richards, president of the house's board. The addition will almost double the capacity, to 55 units including suites for relatives of seriously ill children.
Opened in 1980, the Durham facility housed more than 1,200 families in 2010. Besides a place to stay, it provides a kitchen and dining room, computers and Internet access, laundry, play room, library, tutoring for school-age patients, recreation, pet therapy and transportation for patients' relatives for hospital visits and errands.
Besides the residence on Alexander Avenue, the Durham Ronald McDonald House operates a "family room" at the Children's Hospital and recently opened another at WakeMed.
Durham's was the 13th Ronald McDonald House, the first in North Carolina and the first to open without sponsorship by a National Football League team. About 4,000 volunteers donate time there.
