Local customers raise $27,000 for Ronald McDonald’s House

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the McDonald’s Shamrock Shake back in March, the local Lexington McDonald’s restaurants donated 25 cents for every minty treat sold to the Ronald McDonald House charities of the Bluegrass and Kentuckiana.

The numbers are in… local customers helped the locally owned and operated McDonald’s restaurants raise more $27,000 for the state’s Ronald McDonald House charities.

What many people do not know is that the first Ronald McDonald House was able to be built because of the Shamrock Shake. In 1974, Philadelphia Eagles football player Fred Hill and his wife had a young daughter with leukemia, and after spending countless nights in the hospital and pricey hotel rooms, along with many other families, they knew there needed to be a solution.

With support of the Philadelphia Eagles and a McDonald’s Shamrock Shake promotion, enough funds were raised to build the first Ronald McDonald House – and the rest is history.