J&B Restaurant Partners Raises Over $115,000 For Easter Seals

J&B Restaurant Partners, Inc. (J&B), operators of all Friendlys restaurants on Long Island, made a commitment to help others in the communities in which their restaurants are located. Once again, they have fulfilled that commitment and have achieved phenomenal results. In six weeks, Friendlys Long Island raised approximately $115,000 for Easter Seals during its recent Cones For Kids" program, a 60% increase over last years total.

J&B Restaurant Partners, Inc. (J&B), operators of all Friendlys restaurants on Long Island, made a commitment to help others in the communities in which their restaurants are located. Once again, they have fulfilled that commitment and have achieved phenomenal results. In six weeks, Friendlys Long Island raised approximately $115,000 for Easter Seals during its recent Cones For Kids" program, a 60% increase over last years total. We at J&B are thrilled with the results of this years campaign. To have such a large increase in a difficult economic time highlights the value of the program and enables us to make a difference for people with disabilities that live in the communities where our restaurants are located," explained Jamie Fahey, J&Bs Director of Operations for Friendlys Restaurants.

Friendlys initiated Cones for Kids" in 1981, and money saving coupons for food and ice cream have been popular ever since. To date, Friendlys has raised approximately $20 million for Easter Seals. The money raised by Long Island Friendlys restaurants remains in the local Long Island community and helps children and adults with disabilities from Long Island. This is especially important to J&B president and CEO Joe Vitrano, who views each J&B Friendlys restaurant as an integral part of the community in which it is located. We are a neighborhood family business," explains Vitrano, And our corporate commitment is to make a difference in the lives of our
neighbors." Everyone who works at J&B, regardless of position, has become personally committed and enthusiastic about the corporate concept of giving back to the communities in which J&B restaurants are located. For example, J&Bs District Manager, Joe Sabbatino led his district to raise over $46,000; another District Manager, Christine Desjardins had the highest collections as a percent of sales and raised over $20,000 in three restaurants and Restaurant Managers Gladys Gil, Ibrahim Osman and Suzanne Kubicsko (Bellmore, New Hyde Park and East Islip) led their restaurants to help achieve J&Bs phenomenal results.    

As part of its support to Easter Seals, J&B, who is Nassau Community Colleges food service operators, donated, catered and hosted the official Kick-off" luncheon of the 2003 Easter Seals program for the New York area at the college. Anti-stigma was the theme and those being honored included three Long Island teachers and members of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Ross Szabo, Youth Spokesperson, National Mental Health Awareness Campaign and Langley II, a canine who is committed to helping his companion, a young Long Island child, to lead a normal life.    

Were committed to supporting philanthropic efforts on Long Island," explains Joe Vitrano. When you see the great results achieved and when you meet the people whose lives you have touched such as that little boy with the amazing dog that was honored at our kick-off luncheon ... it feels great to know youve helped to make such a difference." Easter Seals Chief Operating Officer Christine McMahon agrees. Friendlys Long Island really is committed to help us make an impact on Long Island, and in the lives of disabled individuals."