Charity begins at work: Industry to aid victims

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 8, 2001 by Jack Hayes

In a groundswell of commitment and compassion scores of the industry's restaurants and employees are continuing to lead and support an unprecedented, nationwide charitable response to the tragedies of Sept. 11.

The volunteer outpouring at every staff level, from dishwasher and line cook to general manager and chief executive, typifies the creativity and zeal with which hospitality workers dig in and help in the wake of disasters of every magnitude, according to heads of major relief and rescue organizations.

In addition to donations of countless thousands of meals for emergency workers, foodservice companies have made numerous multimillion-dollar contributions to relief efforts and pledged scores of other cash donations. They have ranged from the heartfelt if modest sums raised by individual restaurants to the estimated eight-figure fortune expected from the nationwide "Dine for America" benefits Oct.11 at more than 6,000 restaurants.

"From the moment these tragedies struck the industry responded quickly and strongly," National Restaurant Association president Steven Anderson said. "I don't think there's a restaurant anywhere in the country that isn't doing something to help with this recovery."

In fact, the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington have spurred a generous flow of international support.

Canadian chef-owner Brian Plunkett of Plunkett's in Calgary, Alberta, is pledging 10 percent of his restaurant's Oct. 11 sales to the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund. It was set up by owners and management of the former Windows on the World to aid families of the more than 100 missing World Trade Center foodservice workers and the more than 500 restaurant employees displaced by the tragedy Plunkett also is giving 10 percent of his revenue from the just-ended Canadian Thanksgiving weekend Oct. 6-8 to Windows of Hope, which has drawn pledges from hundreds of prominent tablecloth establishments operating in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

"Calgary is a city of almost 1 million people and a lot of restaurants," Plunkett said. "The response here and in other parts of Canada is going to be very good. We've all felt this tragedy and have wanted to pitch in."

In Manhattan Impromptu Gourmet Desserts joined more than 150 restaurants from Stony Brook to Syracuse, N.Y., in supporting the Windows of Hope Fund. Impromptu's gift will be the total proceeds from all its dessert sales through Oct. 11.

"We're proud to join the restaurant community in this effort, especially since a number of our employees and partner chefs had close relationships with the staff of Windows on the World," Impromptu culinary director Peter Kelly said. "We are committed to helping the families that have been affected."

Meanwhile, lump-sum donations from major restaurant chains have poured into key disaster relief channels, including United Way of America, which organized the September 11th Fund to collect financial gifts from foundations and corporations.

Starbucks Coffee and Starwood Hotels and Resorts each gave $1 million to the United Way's September 11th Fund. Wendy's International donated $1 million to help families of firefighters, police and emergency workers in New York. Applebee's International also gave $1 million.

McDonald's Corp. gave $1 million to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. And Ronald McDonald House Charities is matching that gift. In addition, McDonald's units operating near the tragedy sites in New York, Washington, D.C., and Somerset County, Pa., have been serving food to emergency teams. And two McDonald's mobile restaurants fed by eight Golden Arches supply trucks were stationed in Manhattan to feed emergency workers.

"The fascinating thing is to see the entrepreneurial spirit of restaurateurs in action -- finding so many creative ways to feed volunteer workers, to financially support rescue programs and to give comfort and assistance to injured and shaken survivors," the NRA's Anderson commented.

Veteran chef Patrick McDonnell, senior partner of Kansas City-based Food Strategies Inc. and culinary director of FoodArts magazine, is among the creative strategists who launched the ChefsCare 911 Foundation also to benefit foodservice industry victims and their families.

The group is a grassroots coalition of chefs and chef-operators from 31 states committed to raising $10 million through a multiplicity of fund-raising initiatives. Board member Jim Swenson, executive chef at the National Press Club in Washington, helped launch a press breakfast to initiate the ChefsCare effort.

"Half of these victims were minimum-wage line cooks -- people from humble origins who were sole providers living from paycheck to paycheck," McDonnell said. "This tragedy has left their families without financial means."

Separately, the New York State Restaurant Association created the New York Restaurant Employees' Disaster Fund to assist families of restaurant personnel affected by the tragedy.

"While we don't have an accurate count, we've estimated that 30 to 40 restaurants were destroyed or forced to close and that many restaurant employees perished in this nightmare," NYSRA president Rick Sampson said. "Our board of directors voted overwhelmingly to set up this fund and to commit $100,000 from the NYSRA's Trustco Investment Fund to be used to match pledges made by the foodservice industry."