One dollar at a time, one “Breakfast with Santa” at a time for 12 years, and the Northern and Central New Jersey and Long Island Applebee’s restaurants have raised nearly $2.5 million for the U.S. Marine Corps’ “Toys for Tots” program. This year, the Middletown Applebee’s alone raised nearly $11,500 to benefit less-fortunate children in its local community.
Panera Bread has expanded its contributions to the fight against cancer by selecting the Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) Foundation as its Community Breadbox Partner for 2011.
Now through year’s end, funds collected through coin boxes near the registers at Panera Bread bakery-cafés in the central and northern regions of the state will benefit treatment, research, prevention and education efforts at CINJ, which is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Panera will also match a portion of the donations. The Community Breadbox initiative is part of Panera’s comprehensive Operation Dough-Nation Program, which has a concentrated focus on giving back to patrons and the communities in which Panera’s bakery cafés are located. Contributions generated through the program have provided basic necessities and other vital support for those in need.
The Community Breadbox campaign also will include unique opportunities for CINJ to provide education and information about the latest cancer research and the importance of early detection and prevention education both to Panera’s patrons and its employees.
Philip Scaduto, vice president of Food Circus Super Markets, Middletown, has been named the new chairman of the New Jersey Food Council, an industry trade association. The council represents over 250,000 people employed in the food industry.
Scaduto has served as a member on the board for the New Jersey Food Council since 2004 and tackled many legislative issues affecting New Jersey food retailers. In 2010 many issues were addressed, including giftcard legislation, organized retail theft and the plastic-bag-recycling effort.