Local restaurant donates over 2.5 tons of food to tornado victims

As restaurant managers from across the Metroplex pulled into the Raising Cane’s Addison parking lot Tuesday morning bearing boxes of donated items, the excitement was building.  Crewmembers on hand to help unload the goods and re-load them into a large moving van knew they were about to make a big difference in the lives of thousands of people.

To help meet the needs of residents across North Texas following the devastating tornado outbreak of April 3rd, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers partnered with the North Texas Food Bank to collect non-perishable food items at their 16 restaurants throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.  Over three days, hundreds of customers dropped off food, snacks, bottled water and toiletries in collection boxes.

Raising Cane’s Restaurant Support Office, based in Plano, then matched the donations made by their customers.  In all, more than two-and-a-half tons of food was donated, which will provide approximately 2,000 meals to affected families and relief workers.  Another 51 pounds of toiletries and other essential personal care products were also collected.

“We are very grateful to our customers across Dallas-Fort Worth that gave so generously to our food drive,” said Tommy Van Wolfe, operations advisor for Raising Cane’s.  “There’s a huge need for assistance for our neighbors across the Metroplex whose lives have been uprooted by the recent tornadoes, and we were determined to do our part to help out as best we could.”

All Raising Cane’s restaurant managers were asked to haul the items donated at their locations to the new Addison restaurant on Tuesday morning for consolidation prior to delivering the supplies to the North Texas Food Bank.  

“The good folks at Raising Cane’s really turned on a dime to help out when the people of North Texas needed it most,” said Colleen Brinkmann, Chief Philanthropy Officer at the North Texas Food Bank. “We’re very grateful for all they and their customers have done to pitch in. Thousands of local families will benefit greatly from their generosity.”

There are two Raising Cane’s restaurants near Flower Mound in Lewisville: 1026 West Main Street and 720 Hebron Pkwy.  A new location in Flower Mound on FM 407 is anticipated to open this fall.