Restaurant assistant manager Elaine DeLeon, left, smiles as Ronald McDonald, right, hands her a goody bag Friday.(C. Todd Sherman The Vicksburg Post)

[03/15/03]At the restaurant where Happy Meals are the trademark, happy faces were abundant Friday when Ronald McDonald himself visited.

The occasion was to present employees at the McDonald’s on Iowa Avenue with prizes ranging from airline tickets to Jackson Bandits hockey tickets for winning a fund-raiser benefiting the Jackson-based Ronald McDonald House.

“This is a reflection on the Vicksburg community,” said Ronald McDonald House events coordinator Paige Christopher. “The employees did a wonderful job.”

The Ronald McDonald House is on the University Medical Center campus in Jackson and is a 16-bedroom facility that houses families with seriously ill children who travel to Jackson for medical care.

Employees sold more than 1,700 paper hearts, costing $1 each, during the Have-A-Heart fund-raiser. The money is used for the Jackson facility.

Ronald McDonald lives in the house with other characters Hamburglar, Birdie, The Fry Kids, Grimace and Mayor McCheese.

Sid Mathes, supervisor for the three Vicksburg McDonald’s, all of which participated in the fund-raiser, said staff members were easy to motivate because they realized the importance of supporting the Ronald McDonald House.

“We have a really great group of folks who are highly motivated,” he said.

He said employees filled windows and doors throughout the restaurant with the paper hearts.

“There was an extraordinary effort here,” he said.

Restaurant manager Larry Chambless said he bought gift certificates to the Pemberton Square Cinema 4 as incentives for employees who sold the most hearts on certain days.

Beverly Guice, a Vicksburg High School teacher who works part-time at McDonald’s as a crew trainer, sold more than $400 of the paper hearts.

“The success of our promotion was due to our customers, largely,” Guice said.

Guice contributed her selling abilities to her belief in the work of the Ronald McDonald House.

“A lot of the customers who bought a heart said they had friends or relatives who had received help through the Ronald McDonald charity, and that’s why I think they were so generous in giving,” she said.

Second and third-place prizes went to the Madison and Magee outlets.

“All the stores did pretty well, but this one did outstanding,” Christopher said.