One way that the Department of North Carolina and it's Children and Youth Commission work toward this same goal is by supporting the Ronald McDonald Houses of North Carolina.

Ronald McDonald houses are located in close proximity to hospitals that give special health care to children. They provide a low cost bed for the parents of children who are undergoing extended care in hospitals that are remote from the family home.  At the Ronald McDonald House in Durham over 30% of the families are military families with children who have been referred and are being treated at Duke or one of the other area hospitals.

There are 5 Ronald McDonald Houses in North Carolina, serving all one hundred counties of our State.  They are located in Durham, Chapel Hill, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, and Greenville.

The houses are financially supported by the McDonalds Corporation and from public donations to the houses.

One method of fund raising used by the houses is the collection of pull-tabs from drink cans.

At its Fall Conference in November of 1997, the Department Children and Youth Commission and the Department of North Carolina elected to adopt the support of Ronald McDonald Houses as one of it's Children and Youth programs.

Posts throughout North Carolina have elected to participate in the program by collecting the pull-tabs and by making direct donations to the houses. Pull-tabs are collected at Post level and brought in to Raleigh at Department conferences and conventions, where they are weighed.  They are then taken to a recycler, and the funds generated are donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities.

At the 2010 Fall Conference in Raleigh, 5,387 lbs. of pull-tabs were collected.