McDonalds and Purdue North Central continued their mission of giving back to the community and letting customers partake in some warm lattes with their Give Back Day, giving 50% of all latte and lemonade sales to PNC's Alumni Association in an effort to continue supporting education in La Porte County.
"Over the past year, McDonalds has stepped up their game in terms of education and in La Porte County, Purdue North Central is the golden standard for education," said McDonald's Co-Owner Sam Lubeznik. "McDonalds offers free GED classes for employees, tuition assistance for employees and managers as well as $20,000 in scholarships every year."
For Lubeznik, helping people achieve their dreams of higher education and opening the door to future opportunities is a primary goal for McDonalds and while partnering with Purdue North Central, they are now closer to achieving their goals for the benefit of the community.
"We're trying to help people and customers reach that higher level of education and improve the area we live in," said Lubeznik. "We're excited to do what we can for people at college and those trying to get into college."
This opportunity developed through meetings with both PNC and McDonalds, and when it was discovered that both had similar education goals for the community, the partnership was started, creating a new selection of opportunity for both organizations.
"The alumni association was trying to raise funds and we were nearby," says Lubeznik. "Since they were great people we asked how we could help and soon the creative juices started flowing between the two of us."
Lubeznik was passionate about providing entries to higher education in the workplace, saying that McDonalds also felt the importance of providing future opportunities for all employees to achieve a successful career and eventually, share those benefits with their respective communities.
"The truth is that there is no situation where improved education doesn't make things better. Any company, any business and any community can be made better through both improved education and communication," said Lubeznik. 'Whether it's to help employees move forward through McDonalds or help them move into another field, their time spent here as a result makes them happy, more knowledgeable and more driven."
While the event proved to be a success even early on in the day, both Lubeznik and PNC were already looking to the future for the next big thing they could do to help out the community.
"I sure hope that there are more future events like this," said Lubeznik. "We're already talking about different things to partner with as well scholarships and tuition being set for years to come. With days like today's Give Back Days, I hope they continue for everyone involved."