Bolton McDonald’s to donate $1 from every Big Mac to Caledon Community Services

By Rob Paul

The McDonald's in Bolton officially reopened on November 9, and to celebrate the occasion and show support for the Caledon community, it will be running a fundraiser.

To give back to Bolton, McDonald's will donate $1 from every Big Mac sold from November 9 to November 23 to Caledon Community Services (CCS) with the goal of raising $3,000.

Operations Manager Marcelle Wisdom wanted to show how important community organizations are to McDonald's by fundraising for CCS, who provide community and food assistance to hundreds of local families in need.

Wisdom and CCS share similar values surrounding community improvement, change-making, and helping families in need, making CCS the ideal organization to support.

Wisdom has a history of community involvement across her various corporate restaurants in Ontario that includes raising a combined total of more than $46,000 on McHappy Day to support Ronald McDonald House and other children's charities. 

This year, the Bolton location was closed for renovations during McHappy Day, but can't wait to celebrate in 2022. To still make a positive impact on the community, Wisdom and her team wanted to show how important Bolton is to them by coming up with the $1 Big Mac fundraiser for CCS.

“We were closed at the Bolton location for McHappy Day, which is our biggest fundraising day of the year, and now that we're back open, I wanted to find a way for us to still fundraise,” she said. “That led us to wanting to figure out how to put a fundraiser together specific to Bolton and it was really because we wanted to make sure we didn't miss out on celebrating the community and giving back even though we were closed for renovations during McHappy Day.”

When Wisdom and her team saw the opportunity to still support the community this year despite missing out on McHappy Day, they reached out to CCS who jumped at the opportunity to partner. 

“We touched base with Caledon Community Services and they're amazing folks and really great people, so we're really excited at the chance to partner with them,” she said. “They're really excited and grateful that we chose them. We're all so excited to fundraise for a good cause.”

CCS has long been one of the most important organizations in Caledon working to support those in need through creative programs that will help improve quality of life. Learning about the impact CCS has had gave Wisdom an obvious choice for a local organization to lend a helping hand to through the fundraiser.

“Since McHappy Day had passed I thought why we don't find somewhere in the community that could really use the support, but also really aligns with our values and brand,” she said. “I was looking around for places in Bolton and I came across Caledon Community Services and learned what they're all about. After reading up on how much they support the community and how much they support youth—which is a big part of what we do because we're one of the largest employers of youth. Everything Caledon Community Services does for the Caledon community made them a really good fit because McDonald's values encompass community and supporting the people that live where our restaurants are.”

What motivates Wisdom to give back to the community, not just at the Bolton location but across all her locations, is a combination of McDonald's prioritizing those in need and knowing that support is a two-way street and she wants to take advantage of that at every opportunity.

“It really is about our core values around community, and I think it's always so important to support the communities your restaurants are in too and giving back in any way we can,” she said. “The Ronald McDonald House...specifically helps people who live anywhere in Canada, and I think the reason we and myself want to prioritize giving back is to make sure the community has support because they support us on a daily basis when people of the community come in and get a coffee. Also, the people who work in our restaurants live in these communities and wanted to make sure the communities continue to thrive wherever we are. It's all about really supporting the community that we're doing business in.”

With the reopening, Wisdom and her team can't wait to be part of residents in Caledon's morning once again and hope they can get people back to their morning routine of coming by for a coffee and breakfast. 

“We are so excited to be open and the team is happy to have the doors open again,” she said. “We did have the drive-thru open during renovations, but it's nothing like having your restaurant back after being under construction. Everyone is so excited to be able to see their regulars again and to get the chance to showcase the new restaurant to the community and friends and family. We're really excited to be back and able to give coffees and egg McMuffins to the commuters in the morning and everyone else.”

As part of the renovations, Wisdom wanted to provide more space for her staff to help with capacity given the impact of the pandemic as well as make the experience even more pleasurable for patrons. 

“We did a full re-do of the dining room for people who want to come in and sit down to eat and we also did some expansion behind the kitchen side to improve capacity and make it easier for the crew,” she said. “We've got some new equipment to improve capacity and give overall better service. When it's all put together and finished it's going to be such a good look. It's going to be a really nice space for everyone to enjoy and I think everyone in the community is going to love it.”

Entrenched in the business sector of Bolton at 12612 Highway 50, Wisdom has embraced supporting the businesses around her because of how supportive they've been of her and her team.

“Over the last several months I've just been getting to know the Bolton community [and] I've really come to see how supportive it is,” she said. “I've visited some of the surrounding small businesses and they've visited us. Our staff at the restaurant speak so highly of the community who come in to eat and I know the community has strongly supported the restaurant throughout the pandemic. The local businesses and the residents have been there for us through the tough times, and we're excited to be back and supporting them and Caledon Community Services.”