Meals on Wheels and Darden Restaurants Partner to Advance Homebound Meal Delivery Service

– Meals on Wheels Programs & Services of Rockland announced that the agency has been selected to receive a $2,000 grant as part of the Restaurant Community Grants program from the Darden Restaurants Foundation, Inc., the charitable arm of Darden Restaurants. The grants program, now in its third year, empowers each restaurant in the Darden family of brands to help award a $1,000 grant to support local community programs. Locally, associates of the Yard House in West Nyack and Red Lobster in Nanuet, chose Meals on Wheels as a beneficiary of this program.

The donation will support Meals on Wheels Homebound Meal Delivery Program, which serves over 600 individuals each year.  “Nearly 1 in 6 seniors may not know where their next meal is coming from, but fortunately programs like Meals on Wheels are working to end senior hunger, and grants such as the Darden Restaurant Community Grant are an integral part of our agency’s effort to provide nutritious meals to Rockland homebound seniors in need,” according to Barbara Kohlhausen, agency CEO. 

Darden’s Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s and Yard House brands participated in the program. Many restaurants and brands worked together to award one nonprofit organization with a larger grant and make a greater impact in their community.  Nonprofits receiving grants support one of Darden’s three key focus areas: education, preservation of natural resources and hunger relief.

“We strive to make a positive impact in all the communities our restaurants serve,” said Gene Lee, Darden’s president and chief operating officer. “Our employees are incredibly passionate about getting directly involved in their local communities, and our Restaurant Community Grants program enables each of our restaurant teams to make a difference right in their own backyard.”

For more information about the Darden Foundation, please visit www.dardenfoundation.com. For additional information on Meals on Wheels Programs & Services of Rockland, please visit wwwmowrockland.org.

About Meals on Wheels Programs & Services of Rockland

In the agency’s almost 40 years of delivering meals to the community’s homebound population Meals on Wheels has proudly served well over eight million meals. Meals on Wheels continues to advance its mission by providing for the nutritional needs of the elderly, reaching out to frail, isolated, and disadvantaged individuals and by providing a myriad of support services to those served. Through the Homebound Meal Delivery Program, Senior Centers, Adult Day Care Center and other programs, the agency has impacted the lives of thousands of Rockland residents and their families.

Meals on Wheels is a County Contract Agency operating with funding from the federal government Older Americans Act, New York State, the Office for Aging, the County of Rockland, towns and villages, fees for services, grants and private contributions. For further information call 845-624-6325.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc., (NYSE: DRI), owns and operates more than 2,100 restaurants that generate over $8.5 billion in annual sales.  Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., and employing more than 200,000 people, Darden is recognized for a culture that rewards caring for and responding to people.  In 2014, Darden was named to the FORTUNE "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the fourth year in a row.  Our restaurant brands – Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V's and Yard House – reflect the rich diversity of those who dine with us.  Our brands are built on deep insights into what our guests want.  For more information, please visit www.darden.com.

The Darden Foundation
The Darden Restaurants, Inc. Foundation is the charitable arm of Darden Restaurants, Inc. The Darden Foundation’s mission is to maintain a spirit of service and community engagement as defining characteristics of Darden’s family of restaurants – Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s and Yard House. Since 1995, the Darden Foundation has awarded more than $71 million in grants to leading nonprofit organizations that align with its mission and community priorities: Recipe for Success®, Preservation of Natural Resources and Good Neighbor grants. Through the Darden Harvest program, Darden Restaurants has also donated more than 66 million pounds of food to hunger relief agencies across the U.S. and Canada. In 2011, the Darden Foundation introduced the Restaurant Community Grants program that is dedicated to supporting local nonprofit organizations in the hundreds of communities where we live and serve. For more information, please visit www.dardenfoundation.com.