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 Last year, McDonald’s owner-operators from across
the country participated in the annual “Buy One, Give One. McCafé®
Coffee for Our Military” program. McDonald’s restaurants located in
Central Illinois, Louisville, Ky. and Salisbury, Md. partnered
together and donated more than 1.5 million cups of McCafé Coffee and
incorporated over 10,300 handwritten letters from the area schools
to accompany the care packages.
For every cup of coffee sold now through November 12, McDonald’s
Restaurants of Central Illinois and Peoria/Bloomington will match
it, and send a cup to our active and veteran military members. The
McCafé coffee will be sent in the form of fresh coffee grounds, so
our military personnel can brew it fresh wherever they would like.
To help package and distribute the McCafé coffee overseas, the local
owner/operators are partnering with Operation Gratitude out of Van
Nuys, California. Operation Gratitude assembles over 250,000 care
packages annually to not only say “Thank You,” but also lift the
spirits of our active and veteran military personnel.
Along with the coffee donation, a selection of letters and/or
pictures from Central Illinois-area schools will be included in
every care package. Every school in the area will have the
opportunity to create and write special notes to include with the
McCafé coffee being sent in the care packages.
“We are very excited to kick off our “Buy One, Give One. McCafé
Coffee for Our Military program for the fourth consecutive year,
“said Gary Birschbach, McDonald’s Restaurants of Central Illinois
Co-Op President. “Our military personnel are so important to us, and
we are extremely grateful for everything they have done for our
communities. We hope that our McCafé coffee and letter donation
continues to touch many of our active and veteran military
personnel.”
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Stop into any local McDonald’s Restaurants of Central
Illinois location now through November 12 and enjoy a cup of McCafé
coffee.
About McDonald's
McDonald's USA, LLC, serves a variety of menu options made with
quality ingredients to more than 27 million customers every day.
Nearly 90 percent of McDonald's 14,000 U.S. restaurants are
independently owned and operated by businessmen and women. Customers
can now log online for free at approximately 11,500 participating
Wi-Fi enabled McDonald's U.S. restaurants. For more information,
visit www.mcdonalds.com or follow us on Twitter at @MyIllinoisMcD
and @MyPeoriaMcDs or any of the 98 McDonald’s Restaurants of Central
Illinois and Peoria/Bloomington Facebook pages.
About Operation Gratitude
Operation Gratitude, a 501(c)(3), volunteer-based organization,
annually sends 250,000+ care packages to Veterans, New Recruits,
First Responders, Wounded Heroes, Caregivers, and to individually
named U.S. Service Members deployed overseas and their families
waiting at home. Each package is filled with food, entertainment,
hygiene and hand-made items, as well as personal letters of support.
Operation Gratitude’s mission is to lift the spirits and meet the
evolving needs of the Military and First Responder communities, and
provide volunteer opportunities for civilians anywhere in America to
express their appreciation to all who serve our nation. Each package
contains donated product valued between $50 and $100 and costs the
organization $15 to assemble and ship. Since its inception in 2003,
Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 1.8 Million
Care Packages.
[Kyle Johannsen
Bandy Carroll Hellige]
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