Embargoed: 27 October 2001; 1200 hrs

Press release: McDonalds gives helping hand in food drops

AMERICA'S LEADING CATERING COMPANY, MCDONALDS, SPONSORS THE FOOD DROP ON AFGHANISTAN, IN ORDER TO RELIEVE THE PLIGHT OF STARVING AFGHANI CIVILIANS.

McDonalds has 300 tons of dehydrated meat and 600 tons of long-life bread lined up to feed the hungry of Afghanistan. As part of our commitment to helping those in need, we are bolstering the government's food drop effort, which has already seen many starving Afghanis fed in the humanitarian effort coinciding with the war on terrorism.

International sales director, Ed Gladman, said: 'We have raised literally millions of dollars for the relief workers and the bereaved families of those killed in the terrorist attacks. Now we think we owe it to those in Afghanistan, who have suffered because of the ongoing drought. We believe that McDonalds should represent the compassion and freedom of America and it is our moral duty as a caterer to help feed the thousands of Afghanis, to show that they are not our enemy and to give them a taste of America.'

McDonalds has moved the food aid to an airforce base in Nebraska where it will be taken to Tashkent before being delivered as part of the food drop undertaken by the USAF.

Related news:

More Than Half Million Meals to Rescue & Recovery Teams
$4.5 Million For American Red Cross From Canisters
Thousands of Letters from School Kids to Rescue Heroes
$1 Million From Ronald McDonald House Charities
$1 Million From McDonald's Corporation

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