{"id":33364,"date":"2023-07-27T19:38:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T23:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33364"},"modified":"2023-07-27T19:38:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T23:38:23","slug":"restaurant-recognizes-peter-millers-50-years-of-mentorship-at-mcdonalds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/restaurant-recognizes-peter-millers-50-years-of-mentorship-at-mcdonalds\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant recognizes Peter Miller\u2019s 50 years of mentorship at McDonald\u2019s\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over 200 dignitaries, colleagues, associates, friends, and family members attended long-time restaurateur Peter Miller\u2019s recognition party at McDonald\u2019s in King City last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reception celebrated Miller\u2019s 50 years of mentorship, as well as his generous support of charitable organizations across York Region and the GTA for over five decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller \u2013\u2002originally from Sydney, NS \u2013\u2002opened his first McDonald\u2019s in Richmond Hill over 35 years ago and currently owns 15 McDonald\u2019s restaurants in York Region and one in North York. There are over 1,400 McDonald\u2019s restaurants in Canada, the first of which opened in Richmond, BC in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller glided effortlessly between various groups of attendees \u2013\u2002most of whom were clearly influenced by the veteran restaurateur and travelled from as far as Timmins to attend the celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party peaked at 5 p.m. after much congenial corporate kibitzing when Newmarket-Aurora MP Tony Van Bynen presented Miller with a congratulatory certificate \u201ccommemorating his 50th Anniversary at McDonald\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Bynen applauded Miller\u2019s 50-year connection to York Region\u2019s charitable agencies and sports organizations and thanked him for his \u201cimportant contributions to community including the hospital, the minor hockey teams, the baseball teams, the soccer teams \u2013\u2002all of which are better due to your support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Bynen also championed Miller\u2019s \u201cleadership, community spirit, and care for so many charitable agencies in York Region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller opened a McDonald\u2019s restaurant in Newmarket when the Town\u2019s population was only 8,000 and has cared for the communities in which he has run his businesses. Over the last half-a-century, he has been an ardent supporter of the Newmarket Minor Hockey Association, especially its annual House League tournament; the Aurora Youth Soccer Club; the Central York Girls Hockey Association; the Newmarket Hawks Baseball Club; Newmarket Redbirds Lacrosse; and the Oak Ridges and Richmond Hill Soccer Clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to promoting youth sports, Miller has contributed mightily to Community Living, Doane House Hospice, Kerry\u2019s Place Autism Services, Newmarket Santa Claus Parade, Salvation Army, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Yellow Brick House, York Central Hospital Association, and York Region Children\u2019s Aid Society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller reflected fondly on his time served on \u201chospital boards and foundations\u201d and the satisfaction of \u201chelping local families for over 40 years through the Ronald McDonald House Charities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The McDonald\u2019s mentor was clearly taken by the moment, especially as he immersed himself in warm conversations with former colleagues who thanked him for his positive influence on their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI cried lots of tears of joy this afternoon. All the great memories of working with so many of these people over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller\u2019s eyes welled up as he described the best part of the afternoon\u2019s festivities: \u201cI feel that I\u2019ve helped people along the way \u2013\u2002that would be the most satisfying part of today \u2013\u2002to see people doing so well.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dynamic and magnanimous nature of Miller was evident in his demonstrable impact on the dozens of employees who passed through the reception. The recognition of his years of steering careers and service to so many agencies was fitting and Miller soaked in the adulation much as a master teacher experiences the joy of meeting former students who have excelled in their chosen vocation and offer thanks years after the fact for the timely mentorship they received in and out of the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was evident from the interactions at the reception that Miller has lived his life in these moments much as Cesare Pavese suggested we do when he said famously \u201cWe do not remember days \u2013\u2002we remember moments.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Miller was re-living his remarkable life and its moments at Wednesday\u2019s reception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seemed like a pleasant trip down memory lane for the veteran fifty-year McDonald\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller mentioned that he \u201cfelt blessed to be a part of so many lives\u201d and described \u201cthe wonderful feeling when I meet people again after many years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller described the best part of working at McDonald\u2019s for 50 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo see people grow up \u2013\u2002to see them promoted into management and have successful lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He focused on the importance of mentoring young employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is so much satisfaction in helping a shy 15-16-year-old become a confident person with great communication skills and to give them the means to make their life better. It was satisfying to see the potential in so many young people and give them opportunities to realize that potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miller also shared that the \u201cexciting part of management is teaching people \u2013\u2002to provide them with a more secure financial future, how to run a business, and to help people who have struggled financially to get a good footing and start in adult life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He expressed much satisfaction in teaching prospective McDonald\u2019s managers about the importance of \u201cdiscipline, hard work, and getting into the restaurant at 6 a.m. on weekends to serve the customers of the day, but also how to touch the lives of people in a positive manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday\u2019s reception in King City demonstrated that Peter Miller has touched the lives of so many people in a positive manner. The accolades and anecdotes delivered by McDonald\u2019s managers, MP Tony Van Bynen, business partners, and his daughter, Jennifer, and wife, Rochelle, reflected the warmth that Miller has radiated in his five decades as a philanthropic restaurateur who has mentored thousands and made York Region communities better places to live.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over 200 dignitaries, colleagues, associates, friends, and family members attended long-time restaurateur Peter Miller\u2019s recognition party at McDonald\u2019s in King City last week. The reception celebrated Miller\u2019s 50 years of mentorship, as well as his generous support of charitable organizations across York Region and the GTA for over five decades. Miller \u2013\u2002originally from Sydney, NS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-07-27-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8G8","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 20:19:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}