Union Station Homeless Services Receives $1,000 Grant from the Yard House to Advance Community Meals Program

Media Contacts:

Floridel Sotelo Martinez
626-240-4550
fsotelo@unionstationhs.org

Jenni Izzo
(407) 657-4818
jenniizzo@costacg.com

FOR RELEASE: May 2015

Pasadena, CA –Union Station Homeless Services, San Gabriel Valley’s largest social service agency helping men, women, and children rebuild their lives and end homelessness, today announced it has been selected by the Yard House in Pasadena to receive a $1,000 grant as part of the Restaurant Community Grants program from the Darden Restaurants Foundation, the charitable arm of Darden Restaurants.

The annual grants program empowers every restaurant in the Darden family — Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s, Seasons 52, and Yard House — to award a $1,000 grant to an exceptional nonprofit organization in its local community and support its community programs.

The donation will enable Union Station to continue its Community Meals Program, which provides warm and nutritious cooked meals on a daily basis to individuals and families experiencing homelessness and very low-income community members.

“We are so grateful for the generous support of the Yard House and Darden Restaurants,” says Dana Bean, Director of Development with Union Station Homeless Services.  “These funds will help us feed hungry men, women and children in our community.”

“We’re proud to be able to support Union Station Homeless Services through our Restaurant Community Grants program,” said Stephanie Ghertner, Director of the Darden Foundation. “Our team members are incredibly passionate about getting involved in their local communities, and this program enables them to do just that.”

The goal of Union Station’s Community Meals Program is to feed all who are hungry and come to eat. The program serves an estimated 165 unduplicated people per day, including shelter residents, people who are homeless, people living with mental or physical illness or substance use, senior citizens and low-income working people. The program provides 130,000 meals annually, including a daily breakfast and lunch for hungry community members and three meals a day for Union Station’s Adult and Family Center residents. It is Pasadena’s only free prepared meals program open daily to the community.

For additional information on Union Station Homeless Services, please visit www.unionstationhs.org.

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About Union Station Homeless Services

Union Station Homeless Services, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is committed to helping homeless men, women and children rebuild their lives. Union Station Homeless Services is part of a premier group of human services agencies in Los Angeles County that are leading the way to ending homelessness in our community. We are the San Gabriel Valley’s largest social service agency assisting homeless and very low-income adults and families. We believe every person deserves a life of dignity and a safe place to call home. With over 40 years of experience, we proudly offer a full continuum of seven programs in seven locations; services include street outreach, intake/assessment, care coordination and navigation, meals, shelter, housing, employment development, benefits enrollment, and referrals to medical and mental health services.

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 – 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 77 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.