McDonald’s launches McHappyDay campaign in aid of RMHC and Inspire

As part of its continuous work to raise funds for children in need, McDonald’s has announced its McHappy Day national charity event to mark World Children’s  Day. Now in its 12th edition, McHappy Day aims to raise funds to build another Inspire Learning Centre in Malta.

“The number of children and young adults who are failing in core subjects is on the increase,” explained Inspire’s CEO Antonello Gauci. “This is sometimes even worse because of the socio-economic situation that children find themselves in. These sessions will therefore focus on improving the skills required to help them perform better in Mathematics and English. Intervention will be delivered for free, to children who are identified as having specific and non – specific learning difficulties and come from a problematic social and educational background.”

Throughout November McDonald’s customers will be encouraged to photograph their hand in a sock and share their photos on Facebook tagging them as #thehelpingsock. McDonald’s socks will be available for sale in restaurants.

For every picture uploaded McDonald’s will donate €1 towards the construction of a Learning Centre as part of its Ronald McDonald House Charities (RHMC) global initiative.

The Learning Centre will provide support to a large number of young people with learning difficulties or disabilities and others who come from a troubled social background. Apart from providing formal education, the Learning Centre will offer nurturing and caring education to help these children lead more rewarding lifestyles.

“McHappy Day is our largest fundraising event that brings together all of our restaurants for a good cause,” Victor Tedesco, Managing Director of Premier Restaurants Malta, the operator of McDonald’s, said. “There will also be money boxes encouraging customers to contribute further to this important cause in all our restaurants.”

“The Ronald McDonald House Charities (RHMC) project focuses on providing stability and resources to families everywhere.  Established internationally in 1974, RHMC has helped address  these needs every day, with over 305,000 volunteers and staff around the world. By partnering with Inspire, we aim to raise enough funds to establish a new Learning Centre in Malta that will focus entirely on the local community,” Malcolm Booker, Chairman RMHC (Malta) added.

Last year’s campaign raised €28,000 for L-istrina as hundreds of employees, local personalities and McDonald’s customers uploaded photos supporting the ‘Share a Smile’ campaign on Facebook. Over the past 11 years, McHappy Day has raised more than €250,000 for charity.

On November 28 McDonald’s Malta will join the global McDonald’s McHappy Day celebrations to raise further funds and awareness for children’s causes. Special events will be held in McDonald’s restaurants throughout the day.