Edinburgh Mcdonald's restaurants donate £25k to local cause

The funds were raised by the McDonald’s in the Community Foundation – utilising proceeds from the 10p carrier bag charge across Scotland

Three Edinburgh and one Galashiels McDonald’s restaurants have made a significant contribution to Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS). The charity received a total of £25,000, plus extra support from the McDonald’s teams.

CHAS has been offering a full family support service for babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions for more than thirty years. The organisation provides palliative care, family respite and support through its hospices, homecare service and has a presence in hospitals across Scotland.

The funds will be used to transform two projects within CHAS – The Hairy Highlands Coo Trail and Capital Sci Fi. Both initiatives provide fundraising opportunities which will have a wider impact on the charity and allow it to increase the number of families it is able to support.

McDonlad's restaurants donate £25k to CHAS

The donation was made possible by the ‘McDonald’s in the Community Foundation’, set up by sixteen Scottish McDonald’s Franchisees, and the twenty McDonald’s-owned restaurants in Scotland. The foundation provides a central hub to help distribute funds, raised by the 10p carrier bag charge, to different charities and organisations across Scotland.

McDonald’s Franchisee Graham Angus, who owns and operates four restaurants in Edinburgh and Galashiels, said: “Supporting our local community is of the utmost importance to my team and me, which is why I was so pleased to see the McDonald’s in the Community Foundation officially launch. It means that each restaurant group can make meaningful contributions to charities in the communities that we operate in. The work CHAS does in our community and across Scotland is vital. These families deal with many challenges on a daily basis and the support CHAS offers is truly wonderful. We are delighted to be able to support the charity’s ambitions with this donation and look forward to building on this partnership in the future.”

Sarah Dannfald, Senior Community Fundraiser at CHAS, said: “On behalf of everyone at CHAS and the families we support, I would like to thank McDonald’s for this generous donation. The funding will allow us to upgrade existing fundraising projects which will have a lasting impact on the legacy of our charity and allow us to support more people in the future.”

In 2023, proceeds from the 10p carrier bag charge were used to donate £2.2 million from Scottish McDonald’s restaurants, which was shared across eighty-seven charities.