Eat, Read And Grow Together

Want to know the biggest reason that I love McDonald's?  They care!  And I'm talking about my money.  They care about me and my family beyond being customers.  And this me and my family can testify about, especially my baby brother who received McDonald's scholarships two years in a row to help pay for his college education!  The McDonald's in my hometown has donated to multiple charity and school events that I had the pleasure of being a part of.

There are hundreds more stories and hundreds of more individuals from across the country who could probably tell you stories of how their local McDonald's have gone beyond the duty of just taking orders.  McDonald's commitment to caring is something that their company as a hold is about.  There latest display of this commitment will be taking place starting November 1st on National Family Literacy Day.  

Dedicated to being advocates for children's happiness and well-being, McDonald's will be putting an original McDonald's Happy Meal Book inside every Happy Meal ordered between November 1st to November 20th.  Over 20 million families here in the US will now have access to limited-edition children's books that will combine nutrition, imagination and play in a fun and enjoyable way while helping our children to devlop a sense of community.  Each book will feature McDonald's Happy Meal characters like Ferris, Deana the dinosaur, Goat, Ant and Doddi the dodo bird.  Your children will recognize them from the new McDonald's Happy Meal commercials.

McDonald's has also partnered with Reading is Fundamental (RIF) in effort to help families discover the joy of reading.  RIF will be will distributing 100,000 copies of Happy Meal Books to families across the country who do not have access to books.  "Books are essential for inspiring children to explore, dream, and achieve, yet far too many children do not have this basic resource," says Carol Hampton Rasco, RIF CEO.  "To change this unfortunate reality, RIF is uniting with McDonald's, a company that embraces the transformative power of books and is committed to helping families and communities thrive.  Together, McDonald's and RIF can truly help enrich kids' lives through access to books and by putting the fun back into reading."

Also, partnering with McDonald's is award winning global publisher DK Publishing.  In addition to the print books inside of the Happy Meals, families will also be able to access interactive digital books starting November 1st through the end of 2014.  These books will be available through McDonald's Happy Meal app, McPlay, McDonald.com and MeEncanta.com.  The first interactive e-book will be The World's Greatest Cities, part of DK Publishing's new Amazing World Series.

This Friday, the YUMMommy will be helping our local McDonald's to celebrate going beyond encouraging families to eat together by attending Family Reading Together Night!

We love books.  Around here we're not just committed to eating together,  but reading and growing together.  So, I challenge all you parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents and guardians to commit to eating, reading and together with our children!!  They are our future and that future will only be as bright as we help them to make it.  Let's commit to caring more about giving them the tools they need to succeed and have a good life.  Be sure to check with your local McDonald's to see if they will be hosting events for National Family Literacy Day.