Day Of Love Double Donation

Try to imagine how many 50-cent hamburgers you'd have to sell to raise $50,000 for charity. Customers at local McDonald's restaurants made it happen last year, so the company set the same goal

Tuesday, February 13th 2007, 3:30 pm

By: News On 6

Try to imagine how many 50-cent hamburgers you'd have to sell to raise $50,000 for charity. Customers at local McDonald's restaurants made it happen last year, so the company set the same goal on Tuesday, as part of the Ronald McDonald House 'Day of Love.' The News on 6â€™s Heather Lewin reports one Tulsa business found a way to double the value of it's gift, and share even more love than expected.

"When I first told them I needed 50 hamburgers, they kind of looked at me and said 15, I said no, 50, five-zero."

Barbara Hasbini and her co-workers at Williams decided to make a donation to the 'Day of Love.' The annual event takes the proceeds from the sale of 49-cent hamburgers and 59-cent cheeseburgers and gives them to the Ronald McDonald House. The non-profit organization helps families of children with serious medical conditions that must travel away from home for treatment. Hasbini then realized, the only thing better than giving to one charity is taking the product from that donation and giving it to another group in need.

"They're just so wonderful here, they're always so thrilled to see us, they're always very excited. It just makes you feel so good when you walk in here, cause they just love you," Hasbini said.

"The Bridges Foundation works with adults with developmental disabilities and we try to find jobs for them here in our outsource center or at businesses around the community," Meredith McDaris with the Bridges Foundation said.

About 30 Bridges clients were thrilled to receive a special lunch.

"Special events like this are huge for our clients, because they see that other people know what they're doing, know that they're here, people who wanna work and try to support themselves, and it's just incredibly encouraging," McDaris said.

Williams is a partner with Bridges, many of its employees are also volunteers.

"I think it sets a really good example that you can help one organization and another organization at the same time and everybody benefits," Hasbini said.

Most Green Country McDonald's locations are participating in the â€œDay of Love,â€ the event lasts until 8 p.m. Tuesday.