McDonald’s celebrates Great Day on SaturdayAims to raise record funds for Trindiad and Tobago youth

Arcos Dorados, the exclusive operator of McDonald’s in Trinidad and Tobago and 20 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, is aiming to break last year’s record for funds raised to benefit the young people of this country.

This Saturday, November 27 all McDonald’s restaurants across Trinidad will be celebrating Great Day in support of The Heroes Foundation, a locally registered non-profit organisation established to serve youths in TT. On that date, all proceeds from sales of McDonald’s iconic burger, the Big Mac, will go directly to The Heroes Foundation, said a media release.

McDonald’s Great Day has benefited The Heroes Foundation for the past four years. In 2020, Great Day, broke its record for the most amount of Big Mac sales in benefit of The Heroes Foundation since the campaign began in 2017, reaching an amount of 1,290 units of Big Mac sold. Arcos Dorados’ Great Day donated more than US$5,000,000 in 2020 to support non-profits working in favor of the youth across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The release said The Heroes Foundation utilised the funds to benefit over 500 local and migrant youth in the Heroes Development Programme and Migrant Heroes Development Programme, which give young people opportunities to develop personally and professionally while pursuing advocacy and volunteer work to enhance society. The funds also assisted Heroes’ Big Brothers Big Sisters of TT, a one-to-one mentorship programme for holistic and career development.

This year’s Great Day theme will maintain the I Love To Help theme. Lawrence Arjoon, CEO of The Heroes Foundation noted this was particularly striking as he was heartened by the tremendous support of the public for last year’s fundraiser particularly in the midst of the covid19 pandemic.

“Heroes is dedicated to helping young people become their best selves and to have such excellent public support for Great Day was incredible,” Arjoon said. “Helping is at the core of what we do. We are inspiring our youth to be heroes by rising above challenges and going above and beyond to make meaningful contributions towards the creation of a peaceful, just, and sustainable society.”

“McDonald’s Great Day is a phenomenal initiative that allows Trinidad and Tobago to contribute to something truly great,” added Arjoon. “Due to the pandemic we transitioned to a digital format, which took a great deal of work to build and train everyone to operate the virtual platform. Thanks to McDonald’s Great Day, we had the funds to build out our online development programme and successfully keep our children engaged while they were at home.”

Arcos Dorados’ market manager for TT, Kalifa Duncan, thanked the public for its steadfast support of Great Day. “Great Day is such a special initiative because it truly shows the good in our citizens,” Duncan stated. “It means a lot to see people coming out in their numbers to support a very worthy cause. McDonald’s is committed to supporting the development of our young people and communities, and we are extremely proud to assist the Heroes Foundation and the essential work they do to build a better Trinidad and Tobago.”

To support the Heroes Foundation for Great Day, visit a McDonald’s restaurant on Saturday November 27 to purchase a Big Mac. Vouchers can also be purchased via The Heroes Foundation and McDonald’s and are valid through December 10.