BradfordToday welcomes letters to the editor. Send your letters to [email protected]. This letter is in response to an article by Jonathan Scott on June 26.
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Dear Editor:
I would like to respond to Jonathan Scott’s article about MdDonald's and their discounted water bill. My response is too big for the comments box on the website.
My response is as follows;
While I understand the frustration with the concept that a large corporation is getting a break on local utilities, I am compelled to make known my experience with the local McDonald's franchisee and McDonald's Restaurants throughout Simcoe County.
Currently I am a member of the Bradford Lions Club and District Governor of A12 Lions, that includes clubs from Schomberg to South River, and Collingwood to Orillia. When the COVID-19 Pandemic occurred and quickly impacted Long-Term Healthcare Facilities and Healthcare workers, the Bradford Lions mobilized to provide grab-n-go snacks to Bradford Valley. We also provided prepackaged snacks for Healthcare workers at Southlake Regional Heathcare Centre.
This had a substantially positive impact on morale For Healthcare workers through April and May.
Our District applied for a Lions Club International Foundation Grant and received $US 10,000 in support of Healthcare workers at Long-term care facilities throughout our district. Our partner in this Service, was McDonald's Restaurants.
The Bradford Lions received total cooperation from the local McDonalds and their product was discounted to about half of the actual costs. The same owner of the Bradford McDonald's also owns 4 restaurants in Barrie and 2 in Orillia. Most of these restaurants also worked with local Lions Clubs at grossly discounted prices.
We served approximately 20,000 grab-n-go snacks to Healthcare workers at 30 Long-term care facilities from Bradford Valley to Eastholme in Powassan. McDonald's was an amazing community partner in all locations. The common theme with all franchisees was that the DID NOT want the positive exposure - they were just happy to be good, corporate citizens.
I am also privy to a lot of the work McDonald's does with respect to Childhood Cancer, Camp Oochigeas and Ronald McDonald House.
This may not appease some people in regards to the frustration about the discounted utility bill. However, my experience suggests that McDonald's is an outstanding Corporate Citizen and that they care about making a positive difference in their communities!
Kind Regards,
Lion Jamie Jones,
District Governor - A12 Lions
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