Last Wednesday, BD’s Mongolian Grill presented a check to the Organization for Autism Research (O.A.R.) after raising money through a month-long fundraising campaign.
“This past April, we partnered with O.A.R. and Team Maddox to raise funds for autism research. The entire month of April, anyone who donated money, BD’s Mongolian Grill would match…their donation up to $50,000. So we were happy to present today over $21,000 from BD’s Mongolian Grill to O.A.R. for Autism Research, said Craveworthy Brands Vice President of Operations Lori Cominsky.
BD’s Mongolian Grill kickstarts fundraiser
The fundraiser was initiated by Craveworthy Brands CEO Gregg Majewski, who was inspired by autistic nine-year-old Maddox Yates-Benter’s love for hitting the restaurant’s signature gong.
“About a year ago, Maddox wanted to come visit his favorite restaurant, which is BD’s Mongolian Grill in Naperville, Illinois. The restaurant was closed for renovation, and he was very disappointed…the G.M. Christian, opened up the restaurant and let him come in and ring the gong, which is his favorite thing to do here, and then gave him a gift card to go to a different location where he could enjoy his favorite meal,” said Cominsky.
Team Maddox helps shine light on autism awareness
Mongolian Grill and O.A.R. then came together to create the mini-initiative called Team Maddox to raise money for autism research.
“I think the success of what we did this past April is just going to build on itself. We’re hoping to continue partnerships like this to raise more funds and gather the support of our communities, to continue to partner with different people in the community to help where we can,” said Cominsky.
“I think autism research is very near and dear to a number of people’s hearts within BD’s Mongolian Grill, including our CEO and several people on our C-Level, so it’s not just something that we wanted to do for the community, but something we felt compelled to do because of who we are as an internal community,” said Cominsky.
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