News

Taco John's raises $50K for wounded soldiers organization

February 21, 2013

Taco John's raised $50,000 during this year's Nachos Navidad holiday promotion. The money will go toward this year's charity of choice, the Yellow Ribbon Fund, which helps wounded soldiers and their families.

"Much of what we do helps those who are among the most severely injured — those who lost limbs or who are suffering from traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This donation from Taco John's will help us provide free hotel rooms or apartments, so family members can be close to their loved one during his or her recovery," said Mark Robbins, executive director, Yellow Ribbon Fund.

With the $50,000 donation from Taco John's, the Yellow Ribbon Fund will be able to provide approximately 160 hotel room nights, 650 cab rides and 1,000 rental car days. The hotel rooms will be used by family members; the cab rides will benefit both the injured service member and family members; and the rental cars are provided to family members, but may be used to help transport injured service members.

"We have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for our service men and women. We all have friends, neighbors and loyal customers who serve in the military. In some cases, they are the families receiving support from the Yellow Ribbon Fund," said Renée Middleton, vice president of Marketing at Taco John's.

For this year's Yellow Ribbon Fund campaign, Taco John's also provided a 13-foot banner filled with words of support for the wounded soldiers. Taco John's customers were invited to digitally sign or text-in a message to display on the banner. The oversized greeting card was recently delivered to the Yellow Ribbon Fund and shared with service members at numerous facilities.

Read more about cause marketing.