BenefitRestaurants.org

Waltham is our Benefit Restaurant™

Beginning on September 1, 2009 we committed The Elephant Walk in Waltham to the Benefit Restaurant Project. A Benefit Restaurant™ selects a charity or non-profit each month to receive a percentage of its sales for that month, with a smaller percentage of sales held in reserve to assist in an emerging humanitarian crisis. Accordingly, The Elephant Walk Restaurant Group has committed and distributed three percent [3%] of its Waltham restaurant's sales to a pre-selected charity, while holding 1% of its Waltham restaurant's sales in reserve.

Bob Perry, co-founder of The Elephant Walk and President of The Elephant Walk Restaurant Group, first envisioned the Benefit Restaurant concept in 2001. Bob sees it as a new model of corporate philanthropy - truly Sustainable Giving, that...

  • commits a long-term, continuous flow of business funds toward the common good,
  • keeps the business focused on its day-to-day mission of serving good food well,
  • engages [informs, educates, rewards] a donor base [restaurant guests] in a low-key way [no solicitation involved],
  • energizes and incentivizes the beneficiaries to help get the word out through their ordinary and established channels,
  • costs the beneficiaries nothing for the benefit.

The goal is a frictionless, virtuous circle. We believe a Benefit Restaurant™ achieves that goal.

Our August 2010 Beneficiary

City Year Boston

The Elephant Walk’s cause for August is Voluntarism. We are proud to have selected City Year Boston as beneficiary of our 12th month as a Benefit Restaurant™ at The Elephant Walk in Waltham.

On the heels of our second quarter theme, Improving Education, City Year is a definitive model of voluntary service to fight the drop-out epidemic, improve education, and thereby reduce poverty.

Since 1988, City Year Boston has united young people of all backgrounds to perform community service, giving them the skills and opportunities to change the world. Today, 140 City Year Boston corps members serve full-time as tutors, mentors, and role models in Boston Public Schools, where they reach more than 5,400 children by providing academic support, a positive school climate, after-school programs, and weekend service projects. 

Ten of City Year Boston's 11 teams serve in elementary, middle and high schools throughout Boston. This school-based service model, called Whole School Whole Child, helps create positive change in the lives of children and their school environments by improving student attendance, behavior and course performance -- all confirmed indicators for high school graduation.

In addition to helping schools and students reach new heights in academic performance, one team of City Year corps members transforms wider school communities through service projects that improve the physical school building and wider school community.

Any meal you enjoy at The Elephant Walk in Waltham this month will benefit City Year Boston!

Host your own Benefit Dinner!

Our Monday Benefit Dinner program is where YOU get to choose a charity to benefit! CLICK HERE to learn all about it and to download an event request form to begin planning of your Monday Benefit Dinner!

Our first Crisis Beneficiary: Partners in Health

We, like you, have been overwhelmed by the unfathomable depth of human suffering in Haiti triggered by the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Without question, this is precisely the reason a Benefit Restaurant™ maintains this reserve.

On January 21, 2009 we sent our check for $3,353.90 to Partners In Health, representing 1% of our sales from September-December 2009.

Partners In Health is an impressive Boston-based organization helping to provide healthcare to the poor in the Haiti, Peru, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, Russia and the United States. They have been an active presence in Haiti since 1983 and their deeply-rooted presence there has enabled them to provide medical supplies and services to thousands since since the earthquake struck.

We encourage you to join us and visit Partners in Health's inspiring website and to make a personal donation in support of their efforts!

Stand With Haiti

Visit benefitrestaurants.org to learn more, about...

  • This quarter's theme: Helping the Homeless

  • This month's beneficiary: Pine Street Inn

  • Our first theme - September-December 2009: Huger Relief

  • January 2010 Beneficiary: Mary's House

  • December 2009 Beneficiary: Feeding America

  • November 2009 Beneficiary: The Greater Boston Food Bank

  • October 2009 Beneficiary: Project Bread and The Walk for Hunger

  • September 2009 Beneficiary: The Bristol Lodge Kitchen