Darden Dimes*

There are many organizations that seek to raise money for what they believe to be important causes across America. For example, Raising Cane, a restaurant in Las Vegas, helped raise money for a family on Extreme Home Makeover by donating a certain percentage of each sale of chicken wings and special sauce. Also, in Massachusetts last year, Teamsters Local 25 raised nearly $200,000 for autism and has become a leading fundraiser for Autism Speaks, a national advocacy organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, and treatment of autism. Darden, which includes Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze, and Smokey Bones, hopes to impact the lives of those in need, specifically Darden employees.

Darden Dimes is a project launched in 1999 for the purpose of being an employee-funded source of support for Darden employees facing financial crises. Participating employees donate a minimum of ten cents from each paycheck to the fund. Though this amount seems small, it adds up since hundreds of employees participate.

In 2004, Darden was a huge contributor to the Hurricane Charley Relief Fund. Hurricanes Charley and Frances left many employees in Florida with no transportation or housing. Darden was writing checks in amounts of up to $100,000 for employees after the natural disasters. At that time, 30,000 supporters were donating to the fund, and five years later it has grown even larger. For more information on this, click here.

In 2008, Olive Garden helped in Montgomery, Alabama, when a devastating tornado destroyed the homes of many. They gave soup, salad, and breadsticks to those helping with the recovery effort and helped employees’ family members through Darden Dimes.

There was a story posted at the Cedar Rapids Olive Garden about one of our own employees experiencing the help of Darden Dimes. She had struggled with breast cancer, and thanks to Darden Dimes, she received help with a lot of her medical expenses. She wrote a story about how it affected her and her family and how grateful she was for the help, and it was pinned on our bulletin board for everyone to read. After that, there was an increase in employees participating in Darden Dimes. Ten cents taken out of your paycheck each week is not very difficult; it is an average of forty cents a month or about $4.80 a year, which is easily affordable. Contributing more than ten cents is even more helpful.

Olive Garden not only helps its employees with Darden Dimes, but it is also unanimously known for helping in times of trouble for non-Darden employees. Pennies for Pasta is a national fundraising program that partners with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and many elementary, middle, and high school students that supports the fight against blood-related cancers. This program was launched in 1994 and has raised more than $42 million since then. Once a year, school districts have three weeks for students to fill jars with spare change, and the class that collects the most gets a pasta party delivered by Olive Garden.

Aside from Pennies for Pasta, Olive Garden has helped with Extreme Home Makeover and other disaster relief around the United States. Not only does Olive Garden care about its employees and their families, but anyone who’s in need of some kind of help. Check out this video.