Coca-Cola Consolidated Gives $25M To Support New NC Children’s Hospital and Mental Health Services

Coca-Cola Consolidated donated $25 million to North Carolina Children's. The money will fund mental health programs and a new building designed around families. This is the first big gift toward a $1 billion private fundraising target for a campus in Apex.

The donation will fund programs addressing medical, emotional, and social needs. Kids and their families will receive care there. The campus will feature a 570-bed hospital. It will also include more than 100 beds dedicated to behavioral health treatment.

"We are deeply grateful to the entire Coca-Cola Consolidated family for this wonderful gift," Dr. Wesley Burks, Chair of the NC Children's Board of Directors, said in a news release. "Their partnership will change children's lives by allowing NC Children's to build and expand behavioral health programs across the full continuum of care - from prevention and outpatient services to intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, and inpatient treatment — establishing a world-class model for children's and adolescents' behavioral health."

NC Children's started operations in 2025 as a partnership joining UNC Health with Duke Health. The two medical systems created the state's first health system built exclusively for kids and the first standalone children's hospital in the Carolinas.

The main UNC Children's campus operates 166 beds. Duke Children's main campus has 202 beds. Both totals include specialized intensive care units.

The bottler has operated out of Charlotte for over 124 years. More than 4,000 North Carolinians work there. It's the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the country.

"At Coca-Cola Consolidated, serving others is at the heart of our purpose," Morgan Everett, Vice Chair of Coca-Cola Consolidated's Board of Directors, said in the news release. "We are honored to collaborate with NC Children's to establish a state-of-the-art hospital dedicated to delivering comprehensive care to children in need—both within our community and beyond."

State legislators had approved $320 million for the project earlier. The new building will sit at the intersection of US-1 and NC-540 on a 230-acre site.

Construction should begin in 2027. The hospital is expected to open by the early 2030s.