Previous Story
McDonald’s donates $3K for historical preservation
A check for $3000 is donated by McDonald’s Guam and Saipan to the NMI Museum yesterday at McDonald’s Middle Road branch. (Kimberly A. Bautista)
McDonald’s Saipan made its first donation for the preservation of the islands’ rich history through a hefty donation to the CNMI’s sole museum.
On Wednesday, McDonald’s invited NMI Museum officials and employees to its branch on Middle Road and presented a check worth $3,000 to NMI Museum executive director Danny Aquino.
According to McDonald’s Middle Road general manager Joe Ayuyu Jr., McDonald’s owes its success to the community.
“It is the community that makes McDonald’s successful so this is one of our ways to give back to the community. We want to take care of our customers and serve the community in the different ways we can,” he said.
Ayuyu hopes that McDonald’s’ donation to the preservation of the islands’ history will prompt other companies to make the same move.
“Today we are very proud and we are very happy to donate to the museum. We encourage all other businesses to donate also to the museum to help them restore and maintain the facility…I am very happy to hear that there are students visiting and we want to help preserve the culture of the CNMI and to promote it as a tourist attraction,” he said.
Aquino said that McDonald’s is the first private company to donate monetarily to the restoration of the museum.
“McDonald’s is one of the first companies that has donated financially…[and] we’re very grateful,” he said.
The donation will go to the completion of the ongoing renovation work at the museum.
“We’re going to use it toward the continuous upgrades to the building…there is still one more building outside that needs to be [renovated] and as well as our outdoor cultural center,” said Aquino.
Aquino hopes the donation will only be the first of many. He said the museum continues to push for more funding to enhance its facilities because it is for the future generation of the CNMI.
“We are going to be reaching out to the business community to help the museum because the museum is underfunded…We believe that is a generous investment for the children and every business that donates. They should take pride in the fact that they’re investing in the future of the children of the CNMI,” he said.
