On a cold December day in 2001, Ed Dickson was in Ukraine and wondering, “What am I going to do for Christmas”.  Then he got an idea that completely changed Christmas for the orphans of the former Soviet Union.

In recent years, McDonalds had opened some flashy new restaurants in Russia and Ukraine.  In the city of Krivoy Rog, Ukraine, for example, the McDonalds is the “elite” place to eat!  Ladies will get dressed to the nines to visit the golden arches!

That cold December day, Ed thought, “Why not take as many orphans as I can to McDonalds for a Christmas dinner?”  What a thrill it was!  That
first Christmas there were 46 orphans, who had
never been to a McDonalds before, who had the
time of their lives!

The kids were so excited they were shaking in their seats waiting for their Happy Meals!  After the kids finished eating they put their cups, straws and wrappers into their bags to take back to the orphanage with them.  I watched in amazement as they even folded up the little paper placemats.

As I was helping take the kids to the bus, one of our helpers came to me and said, “Ed, these two little girls have something to say to you.”  I thought they were going to thank me and I didn’t want that because I
wanted the kids to know that God loves them and He
did this.  Then the two little girls looked up at me shyly
and said, “We just want you to know that we had been praying together, for a long time, that God would allow us, somehow, someday, to go to McDonalds.”

Since then over 20,000 orphan children have been taken to McDonalds at Christmas time for a wild birthday party!  Once they get their balloons, hats and start making noise, they always ask, “Whose birthday is it?”  We have the pleasure of explaining to them who Jesus is and why we celebrate his birthday.

It costs only $15 to send a child to McDonalds at Christmas, pya for their transportation, buy them a happy meal, AND provide desperately needed vitamins!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE MCJOYFUL VIDEO!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE ONLINE NOW!