Over the last year, McDonald’s partnership with Children in Need has raised £1.2 million, helping fund vital youth projects and forging relationships with youth workers up and down the country.
As it reflects on the first year of a five-year partnership, McDonald’s is celebrating the pioneering Foxton Centre in Preston, a project which stands out as a shining success story of where fundraising and a commitment to serving the local community have played a significant part in brightening the prospects for disadvantaged young people in Preston.
Focused on reducing anti-social behaviour in the area, Children in Need brought together McDonald’s and the Foxton’s Centre to tackle issues at the root. The centre has acted as a haven for many, providing a safe and welcoming space for young people to get the support they need from local youth workers. With a dedicated partnership now in place with McDonald’s, youth workers have helped young people facing challenges find rewarding employment at their local McDonald’s, providing them with a sense of safety, security and purpose - an opportunity that is often life changing.
As a result of this pioneering partnership, three care leavers have been given roles at the restaurant, whilst anti-social behaviour in the local area has dropped dramatically, with police reports of ASB down from 40 incidents per month to none, and security no longer required at the local McDonald’s.
Local franchisee, Nigel Dunnington, who owns and operates 17 McDonald’s restaurants in West Lancashire, comments; ‘It’s vital that we support local initiatives such as the Foxton Centre. All our crew and customers are local. We want to create safe spaces where our young people can develop and grow whilst providing warm and welcoming environments for our customers to enjoy. It feels great to give back to the communities we serve via projects such as this.’
Working directly with communities is at the heart of McDonald’s and partnership with Children in Need has connected over 50 local projects with local restaurants across the UK in the last 12 months.
Earlier in the year, McDonald’s also partnered with BBC’s Children in Need to ensure the popular Fun Football programme targets families and communities most likely to miss out on sports provisions.
With Children in Need’s support, McDonald’s will ensure the programme is available for free in deprived communities without access to football coaching and facilities and will specifically target sessions to support children with additional and complex needs.
Louise Page, Head of Consumer Communications & Partnerships for McDonald’s UK & Ireland said: “Having worked closely with Children in Need over the past 12 months, it’s incredibly rewarding to see success stories such as the Foxton Centre in Preston, where vital fund raised by colleagues, crew and customers have gone directly to helping young people who need it the most. We believe in stepping up for the communities we serve and are excited to see what we can achieve with Children in Need to help young people thrive.’
Simon Antrobus, Chief Executive, BBC Children in Need said: “At BBC Children in Need we are acutely aware of the vast and ever-growing range of issues that are affecting the UK’s children and young people and as a charity we exist to ensure that every single one of them has the opportunity to thrive and be the best they can be. As we reflect on our first year in partnership with McDonald’s we are hugely grateful for all of the extremely generous support they have given BBC Children in Need. We know that youth work is transformational and that together we have already begun to change thousands of young lives to make a real and lasting difference across communities.”
