McDonald’s World Children’s Day raised an estimated $15-20 million to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities® and children’s causes around the world. More than 100 countries participated in this unprecedented single-day effort to help children in need right in their own communities. While there are countless examples of how this program helped children around the world, here are just some of the ways World Children’s Day made a difference.

In Egypt, World Children’s Day funds will help build a new Children’s Cancer Hospital in Cairo that will dramatically improve medical care for seriously ill children throughout the Middle East region.

In Mexico, World Children’s Day funds supplied vital hearing aids to 1,300 hearing-impaired children.

McDonald’s China distributed 150,000 dictionaries to help educate children in isolated areas.
In Canada, the $2.5 million USD raised will benefit Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities and 80 local children’s causes across the country. This includes the Grandview Children's Center in Oshawa, Ontario to purchase adaptable bikes for disabled children and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

As a result of World Children’s Day, hundreds of premature babies in Malaysia will receive crucial medical care from seven state-of-the-art ventilators and a high-tech incubator, which will be donated to hospitals in areas of high need.

In Turkey, orphans from throughout the country enjoyed special celebrations at their local McDonald’s restaurants. World Children’s Day funds will benefit orphanages across the country.

Funds raised in Poland will enable Fundacja Ronalda McDonalda to support the building and equipping of the Daily Care Ward at Children’s Hospital in Warsaw, serving thousands of sick children from throughout the country.

In the Philippines, World Children’s Day funds will support the Ronald McDonald House Charities first Daycare Center, “Bahay-Bulilit.” This facility fulfills a strong need among the population of working mothers.

On World Children’s Day in Omaha, Nebraska, the local Ronald McDonald House celebrated the birthday of one of its residents -- a 9-year-old girl, who is a triple organ transplant recipient battling lymphoma. In the U.S., the more than $3.2 million raised will benefit Ronald McDonald Houses across the country, which serve as a home-away-from-home for ill children receiving treatment at nearby hospitals, as well as other Ronald McDonald House Charities initiatives.

As a result of a Ronald McDonald House Charities commercial aired during the World Children’s Day time period, a young boy about to undergo an amputation surgery was able to have his spirits lifted through a personal conversation with “Emily” – a girl featured in one of the Charity’s documentary-style spots who experienced a similar surgery.