McDonald's®, Ronald McDonald House Charities® and Desperado Motorcycles Team Up to Raise Money for RMHC®

Desperado Motorcycles, one of the country's top builders of custom motorcycles, is collaborating with McDonald's and Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) to build a themed bike that will be auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting RMHC.

"At Desperado, we've had a long-standing commitment and involvement with Ronald McDonald House Charities," says Jeff Nicklus, CEO and Master Bike Builder of Desperado. "Building a McDonald's/Ronald McDonald House Charities-themed bike is a natural way for us to do more to help critically ill kids and their families."

To launch the initiative, the bike was unveiled at McDonald's Worldwide Owner/Operator Convention in Orlando, Florida, on April 19th. From there, the bike will travel with Desperado to various bike events in cities such as Atlanta and Myrtle Beach. Also, the bike will visit several Ronald McDonald Houses and other McDonald's events before it reaches Chicago in November, where the bike will be auctioned off at the annual RMHC Awards of Excellence Gala.

"Since the inception of the first Ronald McDonald House program 30 years ago, McDonald's has demonstrated a strong commitment to RMHC, identifying innovative programs to support the Charity and the families it helps," says Ken Barun, president & CEO of RMHC. "By using this type of platform to benefit the Charity we not only raise funds, we combine the country's love of bikes with our love of helping others."

The bike will be designed and built by Nicklus with creative input from McDonald's and RMHC. The design focus of the bike will center on RMHC, while incorporating visual elements of McDonald's. The bike will embody the qualities of all three organizations -- performance, passion and leadership.

Desperado Motorcycles is a global leader in building custom motorcycles. Desperado manufactures a line of seven premium, high-performance motorcycle models, as well as the "Jeff Nicklus Signature Series" exclusive one-off motorcycle. All models are available through authorized dealers throughout the country and directly from Desperado's facility in Houston, TX. Please visit www.desperadomotorcycles.com for additional information.

Ronald McDonald House Charities, a non-profit, 501(c)3, creates, finds and supports programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. Its programs are grassroots-driven to enable the Charity to offer help where children need it most -- right in their own communities. RMHC makes an immediate, positive impact on children's lives through its global network of 181 local Chapters in 47 countries and its three core programs: the Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald Family Room™, and Ronald McDonald Care Mobile™. RMHC and its global network of local Chapters have awarded more than $400 million in grants to children's programs around the world. For more information, please visit www.rmhc.org .

McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) is the world's leading foodservice retailer with more than 30,000 restaurants, serving nearly 47 million people each day in over 100 countries. Approximately 80 percent of McDonald's restaurants around the world are owned and operated by independent, local businessmen and women.

          Desperado Motorcycles/Ronald McDonald House Charities
                            Show Schedule 2004

                     Tallahassee, FL., April 24, 2004
       New Orleans, LA., April 28-May 1, 2004 On Site @ Bike Event
               Myrtle Beach, May 6-16 On Site @ Bike Event
                        Atlanta, GA., May 18, 2004
                    Houston, TX., Late May-Early June
                            Dallas, TX., June
                    Oklahoma City, OK., August 1, 2004
           Sturgis, SD, August 3-15, 2004 On Site @ Bike Event
                       Denver, CO., August 17, 2004
                  Colorado Springs, CO., August 18, 2004
                      Wichita, KS., August 19, 2004
                    Amarillo, TX., September 13, 2004
                   Albuquerque, NM., September 14, 2004
        Las Vegas, NV., September 16-19, 2004 On Site @ Bike Event
                  Galveston, TX., September 23-25, 2004
          Myrtle Beach, Sept 28-Oct 3, 2004 On Site @ Bike Event
                      Columbia, SC., October 4, 2004
                      Savannah, GA., October 5, 2004
                    Jacksonville, FL., October 6, 2004
                    Gainesville, FL., October 7, 2004
                   St. Petersburg, FL., October 8, 2004
               Ft. Lauderdale, Fl., October 9, 2004 Dealer
       Daytona Beach, FL., October 19-25, 2004 On Site @ Bike Event
        New Orleans, LA., October 28-31, 2004 On Site @ Bike Event
                      Chicago, IL., November 5, 2004

         Chicago, IL., November 6, 2004 Awards of Excellence Gala

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040427/CGTU030
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040427/CGTU030LOGO-a
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040427/CGTU030LOGO-b
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990916/MCDLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

SOURCE: McDonald's

CONTACT: Skipper Bond of Desperado Motorcycles, office, +1-504-899-4434,
or mobile, +1-504-415-7264; or Brad Hunter of McDonald's USA, +1-630-623-8994;
or Timothy Sifferman of RMHC, +1-630-623-3950

Web site: http://www.desperadomotorcycles.com/
http://www.mcdonalds.com/