Operations

McDonald's makes $100K donation to HBCU band

Provided

February 24, 2022

McDonald's USA and its local owner/operators have donated a surprise $100,000 to the Platinum Sound Marching Band at Shaw University, one of the oldest historically Black colleges and universities in the nation, according to a press release.

"This grant is beyond anything we could have imagined," Andrae King, current director and former member of Platinum Sound, said in the release. "It means everything to these students who grind day in and day out to bring energy and excitement to others to get so much love and support back from McDonald's and the community."

Platinum Sound's longstanding legacy of entertaining crowds through elite musicianship and showmanship was recently celebrated in a national McDonald's commercial. Through the lens of current Platinum Sound member, Dave Walters, Jr. and his mother, a musician and Shaw alumna, the spot highlighted the local McDonald's restaurant's role as a familiar gathering place for Shaw students across generations.

"While I attended an HBCU, it was eye-opening to see the amount of hard work, dedication and resources it takes for a marching band to perform and operate on such a high level," Deborah Holder, a McDonald's owner/operator in North Carolina and East Coast second vice president of the National Black McDonald's Operators Association, said in the release. "As part of the Raleigh and HBCU community, we are committed to ensuring future leaders such as these talented musicians have the tools they need to succeed."

Platinum Sound will use the donation to benefit the band's enhancement and expansion goals, perform in style, provide scholarships to band members, create recruitment opportunities and provide equipment and instruments, such as their sousaphones, which have not been replaced in more than a decade.

McDonald's operates more than 13,500 U.S. restaurants.