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We
strive to create a feeling of warmth and caring
for every guest, which extends beyond the walls of
the restaurant into the community. Local Olive
Garden restaurants participate in civic and
community service, such as delivering meals during
times of crisis, sponsoring charity events, and
hosting school tours of the restaurant.
Nationally,
Olive Garden leads three major campaigns:
Over
26 million Americans seek emergency food
assistance every year. At Olive Garden, we believe
that no one should go hungry in our land of
plenty. The Drive Against Hunger campaign
supports America's Second Harvest, the nation's
largest hunger-relief organization, a network of
nearly 200 regional food banks serving all 50
states and Puerto Rico.
As
part of Olive Garden’s team sponsorship in the
American Le Mans Series, we donate to food banks
in U.S. cities where each race occurs. In
addition, for every lap Team Olive Garden
completes in a race, we donate dinners to families
identified by a food bank in that city. The
results so far have been outstanding. Since 1999,
Olive Garden’s donations to food banks and
families in need through Drive Against Hunger have
exceeded $1 million.
Pasta for
Pennies is our national fundraiser for the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. During the annual
three-week event, students bring spare change to
their classrooms to benefit local chapters of the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Since the program
began in 1990, it has raised nearly $10 million to
fight leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and
myeloma. More than one million students in 1600
schools across the country participate each year.
The class in each
school that collects the most money is treated to
a pasta party at an Olive Garden restaurant. We
also host kickoff luncheons for representatives of
participating schools in each city and provide
marketing support for the program. Teachers
receive educational materials, such as lesson
plans relating math, science, and history to the
evolution of pasta through the ages.
Pasta for Pennies
has enjoyed recent publicity. In 1999, in Burbank,
California, the cast of the hit television series
Everybody Loves Raymond presented a $3 million
check raised through Pasta for Pennies to the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Cast member Doris
Roberts, whose husband Bill died of leukemia, is a
strong supporter of leukemia research.
With funding from
programs such as Pasta for Pennies, leukemia and
blood-related cancers can be eliminated in our
lifetime. For more information call the Leukemia
and Lymphoma Society at 1-800-955-4LSA.
Pasta Tales
is an annual national essay writing contest
sponsored by the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant.
This year we asked young writers to answer in 250
words or less, “If you could trade places with
anybody for a day, who would it be and why?” In
addition to a grand prize winner, a winner will be
announced in each age category from 7 to 16 years
old.
The grand prize
winner receives a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond, a trip
to New York City for the winner and three family
members and dinner at the Olive Garden in Times
Square. The winner in each age category receives a
$250 U.S. Savings Bond and dinner for four at the
Olive Garden.
Pasta Tales is
designed to encourage young writers to express
themselves and to improve their writing skills.
Entries are judged on creativity, organization,
grammar, punctuation, and spelling by the Quill
and Scroll Society of the College of Journalism
and Communications at the University of Iowa.
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