Local McDonald's Owner Donates $3,000 to Trenton Public Schools

A local McDonald’s restaurant owner donated $3,000 to Monday.

Gary Granader of Granader Family Restaurants wrote a check to each school in the district.

Schools received checks in the amounts of:

• received $1,000
• received $1,000
• received $500
• received $500

Granader owns McDonald’s restaurants all over Downriver. He has restaurants in , Allen Park, Flat Rock, Southgate, Woodhaven and Wyandotte.

In Trenton, Granader owns the McDonald's location on West Road.

Granader was unavailable for comment at press time.

The donation comes at a time when the district is spending more money than it brings in.

The district’s 2011-12 budget has the district spending about $24.3 million for expenditures and bringing in about $23.1 in revenue. Forcing district administrators to use about $1.2 million from the fund balance to balance the budget.

The district’s fund balance is at about $1 million. The lowest it has ever been.

The schools have already begun thinking about ways to spend the much-needed donation.

Trenton High School Principal Michael Doyle said the school would use the money to purchase a new SMART board for the science department.

The smart board will likely be set up in the advanced placement biology lab, which is accessible to all science teachers according to Rod Wakeham, science department chairperson for Trenton Public Schools.

“What it will do is allow us to use software to provide staff and students with interactive simulations,” Wakeham said.

At Arthurs Middle School, Principal Stephanie O’Connor said the money would be placed in a student council project fund and council members would vote to see where the money could best be used.

“With the recent economy, fundraising has been difficult lately, and it was a good time to support our student council,” O’Connor said.

Principal Vincent Porreca at Hedke said the donation would be used to purchase playground equipment like rubber kick balls, basketballs, jump ropes and small hockey and soccer nets.

“That guy (Granader) is perhaps the nicest man,” Porreca said. “I’ve never met him, but I wrote many letters thanking him.”