This award highlights outstanding local and national charitable service and philanthropy. Congratulations to our 2018 state winners:
Since August of 2005, Hoss’s Family Restaurants have been offering a Community Night fundraising option to local charitable causes such as for medical crises and disaster events, school sports teams and booster clubs, fire departments, churches and other non-profit organizations. Since the inception of the Community Night program, Hoss’s has donated over $4 million to deserving groups and organizations. This past January, Hoss’s rallied together with the local communities surrounding our corporate headquarters to raise funds to support the family of State Trooper Landon Weaver, who was killed in the line of duty on December 30, 2016. On Saturday, January 7, 2017, six Hoss’s locations held a Community Night fundraising event in honor of Trooper Weaver. In addition, all 35 Hoss’s locations had donation boxes set up for those wanting to contribute. Thousands of guests showed up to support this fallen officer and his family, and the entire event raised nearly $40,000 for the Weaver family.
To honor the memory of founder and original CEO, Steve Hanzlik, who inspired many with his optimism and determination in the face of his own blood cancer, Lehigh Valley Restaurant Group - Red Robin has been active and increasingly successful in raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Since Steve's passing in January of 2010, LVRG has raised more than $600,000. Over 81 cents of every dollar has gone towards research, patient information, and patient assistance programs, like free co-pays. These donations have helped fund research for a special drug that helps with the most deadly of the blood cancers, Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), which typically has the lowest survival rate.
Metz Culinary Management provides unsurpassed service that exceeds the needs – and expectations – of everyone they serve, extending to their local communities. This year alone, the company raised nearly $30,000 for a local charity in Luzerne County, Dinners for Kids, which provides nutritionally balanced dinners for children in need in the local community. When disaster hit communities nationally with hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria the company created a one-time only cherry lemonade that they sold in their TGI Fridays in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in September of 2017 raising $5,234 for the Red Cross of Northeast Pennsylvania with 100 percent of the proceeds going directly to those impacted by the hurricanes. Team members and managers in Melbourne, Florida cooked meals for first responders of Hurricane Irma and for the Pulse Nightclub shooting first responders in Orlando, Florida.