For the past 10 years, the State Employees Credit Union Family House at UNC Hospitals has provided hospitality services to UNC Health Care patients and their families who live outside of a 50-mile radius of Chapel Hill.
Recently, the Family House announced its capital fundraising campaign of $8 million, which will nearly double the size of the House and the number of people it serves.
The expansion calls for a new building behind the existing eight-year-old building and will add 35 more rooms to SECU Family House. In total there will be 75 rooms throughout the entire house.
The $8 million raised will cover the cost of construction, furniture and landscape for the new building.
“We are making progress so that we will be ready to dig a hole in the spring,” Executive Director of SECU Family House Janice McAdams said. “We need university approval, town approval and money. So we’ve got a check in the box because we needed $6 million to start building.”
Over the past year, SECU Family House has fundraised more than $6 million with private donations, hitting around 75 percent of its goal to reach $8 million. SECU Family House Board of Directors donated the first $1 million to kickstart the campaign.
McAdams said they are ahead of their fundraising schedule. Their largest private donors include SECU, UNC Health Care and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and its foundation.
“That’s really how we’ve gotten to the $6.1 million and then we went public with the campaign at our gala,” Director of Development Martha Aldridge said. “What that means now is we’re really going out there and letting people know.”
The house will raise the remaining $2 million through public donations through its “Share the House” campaign.
