Charles Ramsey gets free burgers for the rest of his life.
That is the reward a group of more than a dozen restaurants decided to give the hero credited with freeing three women in Cleveland who had been held hostage for more than a decade.
Ramsey was a neighbor of the accused kidnapper and was eating a Big Mac when one of the three women being held escaped. In a now-famous television interview, Ramsey said he put down the McDonalds and came to the aid of the kidnapped women — Amanda Berry and her daughter, along with Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.
“I heard screaming. I’m eating my McDonald’s,” Ramsey told ABC News’ Cleveland affiliate WEWS. “I come outside. I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of the house. I go on the porch and she says, ‘Help me get out. I’ve been here a long time.’ ”
To reward the Cleveland hero , the restaurants are giving Ramsey free burgers for life. It’s quite a list — he can to any of a number of places from brew pubs to bistros to regular old burger joints. The participating restaurants stretch from Cleveland and across northeastern Ohio all the way to Pennsylvania.
Ramsey’s interview got McDonalds to take notice . After the company received a barrage of tweets asking the fast food chain to reach out to Charles Ramsey,@McDonaldsCorp tweeted: “We salute the courage of Ohio kidnap victims & respect their privacy. Way to go Charles Ramsey- we’ll be in touch.”
Ramsey already had one burger tribute. Hodges restaurant, where he works as a dishwasher, created the Ramsey Burger in honor of him. It’s modeled after the Big Mac.
That inspired a business partner of Hodges owner to come up with a bigger tribute. Scott Kuhn, owner of Driftwood Restaurant Group, wanted his restaurants to participate in the free burgers for life offer.
“We want to honor our local hero with local food,” said Kuhn, who owns four participating restaurants. “He stopped his meal midway through to help those women. We’re now making sure he has other opportunities to go out and fully enjoy his burger.”
To cash in on the free burgers for life, Ramsey has a single-edition “Chuck Card.” All he has to do is flash it at one of the participating restaurants and the burger is free.
