MEMBER NEWS
BDUBS, LLC Hosts
Seventh Annual
Tip-A-Player Event
O
F
our World Wide Wings locations in
southern California have partnered
with a Los Angeles-based nonprofit to
turn their restaurant’s trash into treasure
for area school kids.
The Crayon Collection, founded
in 2011, teams up with restaurants and
hotels that distribute free crayons to
children when they dine and reallocates
them to schools and classrooms in
need. Through the National Head Start
Association and USA.org, the Crayon
Collection has been able to provide
millions of crayons to roughly 1,000
schools across the country.
This not only keeps the crayons
out of landfills, but also supplements
arts programming in schools where
such programs may get cut due to
underfunding.
“It’s a great program, and it is very easy
for us to be able to contribute to a great
cause,” said Holly Riggsby, area general
manager for the Chino Hills location. “The
employees react well to the program. Some
have even brought in extra crayons from
home and other jobs they have.”
Managers at the participating
locations note that they collect anywhere
from 20 to 50 crayons a day and that the
process is fairly effortless. Participating
B-Dubs® locations set up a box in the
restaurant where employees put gently
used crayons as they bus tables. A
representative from the Crayon Collection
then drops by every few months to empty
out the donation box.
In addition to providing materials
The Crayon Collection aims to keep gently
used crayons out of landfills and provide
them to schools in need, along with arts
programming.
to schools, the Crayon Collection also
teams up with local artists to create and
provide teachers with lesson plans and
instructional resources. Artists such as
Kenny Scharf and Annie Lapin rotate
out on a monthly basis coming up with a
curriculum that implements the crayons
and goes beyond simply coloring.
“It’s a great feeling to have our
company take part in charitable aspects,”
said Riggsby. “We definitely have the
platform that can bring recognition to
other charitable organizations.”
Buffalo Wild Wings® began
partnering with the Crayon Collection
when a representative from the nonprofit
approached the West Covina location
roughly three years ago. Management at
that restaurant then reached out to other
area B-Dubs. The Brea, Chino Hills and
Rancho Cucamonga locations began
participating last year. S
Belle Holdings Inc. Hosts Holiday Benefit Concert
special guest Bailey Hayes at 7 p.m., and
at 10 p.m. attendees were encouraged to
participate in a holiday dance party.
Even though B-Dubs® only advertised
via social media, the first-year event still
went off without a hitch with well over
200 people in attendance.
“Alex Caruso has a big local following,
and a lot of the area Girls Scouts were
in attendance,” said Belle Holdings Inc.
franchisee Kevin Donham. “The event
was held to try and raise donations in the
way of canned food for the Culpeper Food
Closet, and we donated around 100 cans
of non-perishable food items.” S
5
On Dec. 17, a Buffalo Wild Wings®
in Culpeper, Virginia, opened its doors to
the community for a free benefit concert to
help locals get into the holiday spirit and
to help collect donations for the Culpeper
Food Closet.
The event kicked off with a Santa meet
and greet that included free pictures from
4-6 p.m., and then guests were invited to
participate in a restaurant-wide mannequin
challenge, which is a viral video trend where
people remain frozen in action, like manne-
quins, while a moving camera films them.
Local pop singer Alex Caruso began
performing a Christmas concert with
n Jan. 23, a Buffalo Wild Wings® in
Rapid City, South Dakota, hosted
the annual Tip-a-Player event, benefiting
the Special Olympics Black Hills. The
event, which is in its seventh year, pairs a
professional hockey player from the local
Rapid City Rush with a special Olympian
and a BWW server. The trio serves and
waits on a normal table section and all tips
are given to the Special Olympics Black
Hills – a figure that has grown to more
than $20,000 since the event started.
“Our guests absolutely love being
waited on by the Rush players,” said Matt
Benne, managing member for BDUBS,
LLC, which hosted the event. “It’s their
chance to get up close and personal with
our local professional athletes, but the
real excitement from the night comes
from the Special Olympics athletes
interacting with their local heroes.”
The athletes are broken up into two
groups – one working from 4:30-6:30
p.m. and another from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Benne notes that anywhere from 200 to
500 people typically come out, depending
on the year, and that the restaurant has
seen sales increases up to 50 percent.
“The Tip-A-Player event is something
our team members, ownership group and
Rush players look forward to every year
knowing how much joy this brings the
Special Olympics athletes,” said Benne.
The Rapid City Rush advertised and
announced the event at every home game
the month leading up to the event. In
addition, the local cable provider donated
30-second commercials and prizes that
were raffled off during the event. The
Rush and Special Olympics Black Hills
also sent out emails and press releases to
garner interest for the big event.
“When the Rush originally asked us
to become corporate sponsors, the then
general manager of the Rush and I modi-
fied a previous event he had used with
another team,” said Benne. “The Special
Olympics Black Hills was an organization
where we knew the money would impact
our local community. We also had a
special needs individual who worked for
us, which made it an obvious fit.” S
World Wide Wings Partners With Crayon
Collection to Boost Arts Programming in Schools