The Don Bosco Centers has been named as the community beneficiary of the 11th Annual Kansas City Restaurant Week, scheduled for Jan. 10-19, 2020. The local nonprofit organization, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary next year, operates a senior center, English as a second language school and soon-to-reopen community center dedicated to empowering underserved members of the community to achieve self-sufficiency. The Don Bosco Senior Center helps seniors and adults with disabilities to maintain independent living by providing on-site lunches, emergency assistance and other services that promote physical and mental wellness, and also facilitates one of the largest hot meal delivery programs in the region, catering more than 740 fresh, nutritious meals for older adults each day. The Don Bosco ESL School, meanwhile, provides free English classes and other educational opportunities to more than 1,400 adult immigrants and refugees from more than 75 countries so they can successfully assimilate and navigate their new home.
“All of us at Don Bosco are thrilled to be the community beneficiary of 2020 Kansas City Restaurant Week, especially at an exciting time as we are expanding our services to reach even more people,” said The Don Bosco Centers Executive Director Mo Orpin. “Feeding older adults who might otherwise go hungry is at the core of Don Bosco’s mission, so we are delighted to be participating in such a premier Kansas City dining event!”
Participating restaurants will donate 10 percent of Restaurant Week menu sales during the 10-day citywide dining event. In addition to The Don Bosco Centers, the Visit KC Foundation and Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association (GKCRA) Education Foundation will also receive a share of the proceeds.
Kansas City Restaurant Week, led by founding partners Visit KC and the GKCRA, featured 200 participating restaurants in 2019, a new record. Over the course of its first decade, the event has raised nearly $2.6 million for local charities and now selects a new community beneficiary each year. Early-bird registration for 2020 Kansas City Restaurant Week opens today and runs through Aug. 29 for discounted registration fees. Interested restaurants may register at KCRestaurantWeek.com/register.
Sysco returns as presenting sponsor of Kansas City Restaurant Week, the third consecutive year that it will fill the top sponsor position. Sysco is a global company that sells, markets and distributes food products, equipment and supplies to restaurant, healthcare and educational facilities, as well as lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. The company operates approximately 300 global distribution facilities, serving approximately 500,000 customer locations. Sysco’s Kansas City operating company is based in Olathe, Kansas.
About Kansas City Restaurant Week
Kansas City Restaurant Week (KCRW) is KC’s premier dining event founded by the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association and Visit KC in an effort to support the regional restaurant community. 2020 marks the 11th consecutive year for the 10-day dining event, spotlighting KC as one of the country's premier dining and vacationing destinations. Each year, KCRW partners with local charities to raise funds for deserving causes. In 2019, a record 200 participating restaurants boosted the event’s decade-long charitable total to nearly $2.6 million. For more information, visit KCRestaurantWeek.com, become a fan on Facebook at Facebook.com/KansasCityRestaurantWeek, follow on Twitter at @RestaurantWeek or Instagram at @KCRestaurantWeek.
About The Don Bosco Centers
Since 1940, The Don Bosco Centers has been empowering vulnerable neighbors throughout Kansas City to be self-sufficient, contributing members of this culturally rich community through a wide-ranging network of services tailored to their needs. Designated as the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in the region, the Don Bosco Senior Center provides hot meals, transportation, fellowship, activities, and emergency services for seniors and adults with disabilities, many of whom are at risk of institutionalization due to frail health, low-income status, and limited resources. Its English as a Second Language School, the largest adult education program in Missouri, provides free educational opportunities in English proficiency, high school equivalency, workforce development, and more to adult immigrants and refugees through a valuable partnership with the Independence School District. Most recently, a successful $3 million capital campaign has enabled Don Bosco to renovate its original Community Center building, which is set to reopen in early 2020 and will once again feature community education and wellness programming for all ages. For more information, visit DonBosco.org, or follow The Don Bosco Centers on Facebook at Facebook.com/DonBoscoCenters and on Instagram at @thedonboscocenters.
About Sysco
Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. With over 65,000 associates, the company operates approximately 300 distribution facilities worldwide and serves more than 500,000 customer locations. For fiscal 2018 that ended June 30, 2018, the company generated sales of more than $58.7 billion. For more information, visit Sysco.com or connect with Sysco on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SyscoKansasCity and Instagram at www.instagram.com/SyscoKansasCity.
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