FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 27, 2010

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(Washington, D.C.) Building on the restaurant industry’s continuing efforts to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti, the National Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) today announced that they have joined with Share Our Strength to organize Restaurants for Relief-Haiti to galvanize the restaurant industry’s fundraising initiative. The program is an extension of the original Restaurants for Relief in 2005 that raised nearly $1 million from the nation’s restaurants to aid recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

“Restaurants are always among the first to respond to emergency situations, and we have seen how incredibly generous the restaurant industry is in times of crisis,” said Dawn Sweeney, President and CEO of the National Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. “Share Our Strength is one of our industry’s most effective charitable organizations, and we are pleased to join their efforts. If you are already involved in relief efforts, you can still participate in Restaurants for Relief-Haiti to further help the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the earthquake. We encourage all the nation’s nearly one million restaurants to join this effort.”

Share Our Strength will grant 100 percent of funds raised through Restaurants for Relief-Haiti to organizations with proven capacity and expertise to respond to such a crisis. Restaurants can participate by:

• Donating a portion of sales from a week, a day or a specific menu item.
• Collect donations from patrons, or direct them to make online donations at www.strength.org/haiti. 
• Encourage employees to make individual donations and match them.
• Visit the Restaurants for Relief-Haiti Web site for more ideas.  

“We are deeply concerned about the families and children displaced by this unimaginable disaster,” said Bill Shore, founder and executive director of Share Our Strength. “Hunger has always been a huge issue in Haiti and will be even more so going forward.  Funds raised through Restaurants for Relief will help us provide both short- and long-term assistance as Haiti recovers and rebuilds.” 

Restaurants that wish to help should send the restaurant name, city and state to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to be added to the list of participants. Program donations can be made online through Share Our Strength at any time before February 12, 2010.

Share Our Strength® works to end hunger and poverty in the United States and abroad by mobilizing industries and individuals, and creating community wealth to promote lasting change. Share Our Strength is also the leading national organization working to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. The organization weaves together a net of community groups, activists and food programs to catch every at-risk child and make sure no kid in America grows up hungry.

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Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which is comprised of 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a work force of 12.7 million employees. Together with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, the Association works to lead America’s restaurant industry into a new era of prosperity, prominence, and participation, enhancing the quality of life for all we serve. For more information, visit our Web site at www.restaurant.org.