McDonald’s PH turns old dining seats into classroom chairs for public school students
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Every space revamp comes with a set of items that will either be sold or thrown away. While these are quite common to do after a room makeover, we tend to forget that some things that we think are no longer worth keeping could still be valuable to others.
McDonald’s, for example, got creative after renovating their restaurants across the Philippines. Instead of putting their old and unused dining seats up for sale or considering them garbage, the fast-food chain decided to turn them into something that would still be useful and functional for the youth in underserved communities.
The restaurant giant teamed up with local government stakeholders and education champions for the campaign dubbed “ReClassified”—an initiative “where used furniture from renovated McDonald’s stores are repurposed and donated to public schools.”
The project showcases the work of social enterprise Junk Not, with the ReClassified chairs made completely out of decommissioned seats, tables, plastic, wood, and steel collected from revamped McDonald’s stores nationwide. According to BusinessWorld, the process, headed by principal designer Dr. Willie Garcia, “included everything, from prototyping to production of the final products, which they assure come up to global standards.”
“I’m sure you’ve sat on these chairs. It’s all about strengthening it and adding the table. Definitely, it has all the safety requirements as we prioritize also in the stores,” McDonald’s Philippines AVP for Corporate Relations Adi Hernandez said during the campaign launch on Sept. 8.
McDonald’s latest program kicked off at the San Roque Elementary School in Marikina, which has received a hundred desks as a donation. In an interview with CNN Philippines, Marikina mayor Marcy Teodoro—who is also a graduate of the school—thanked the food company for making his alma mater the first beneficiary of the initiative, which he called “a very innovative approach in recycling, re-engineering old furniture.”
“Education is for everybody. May pag-asa sa edukasyon—nababago ang buhay. You have a chance in life, a better chance, a better opportunity. It’s a very innovative approach in recycling, reengineering old furniture to be good chairs in classrooms kaya this partnership with McDonald’s is very critical on our part as an LGU lacking in resources,” he said.
Another hundred desks will be installed in another Marikina school, which is yet to be disclosed.
McDonald’s has been focusing on supporting education in its corporate social responsibility programs. Their previous projects include “McClassroom,” where they converted vacant party spaces in their dining spots into classrooms for education facilities in need at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s still running to this day, but only in the evenings. The fast-food chain also had a special tie-up with Brigada Eskwela, where they provided cleaning materials and other forms of assistance for the start of the academic year in public schools all over the country.
“What McDonald’s advocates for is education. Students, really, are very close to our hearts and we believe that it’s really through education that one can have a better life,” Hernandez told CNN Philippines.
McDonald’s Philippines continues to offer a helping hand and make communities better via its chosen charity, Ronald McDonald House Charities Philippines. Stay updated about its projects and offerings at https://mcdonalds.com.ph/.
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