SEATTLE HOTEL ASSOCIATION MEMBERS COLLECT OVER ONE TON OF FOOD FOR THE DOWNTOWN FOOD BANK

Employees from downtown hotels distribute food at the Downtown Food Bank on October 26.

WHAT
On October 26, volunteers from downtown Seattle hotels, including The Sixth Avenue Inn, Best Western Loyal Inn, Best Western Executive Inn, Crown Plaza, Pan Pacific Hotel, The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, and Travelodge will help distribute food at King County’s third busiest food bank, the Downtown Food Bank at Pike Place Market.

Seattle Hotel Association (SHA) member hotels have been collecting bins of food for the Downtown Food Bank since October 1. Each bin has ranged between 75 pounds and 150 pounds. SHA estimates that a combined weight of over one ton of food donations will be collected from the efforts.

WHO
Seattle Hotel Association and the Downtown Food Bank

WHEN
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
9 am to 11 am and 11 am to 2 pm

WHERE
Downtown Food Bank
1531 Western Ave., in the Public Market Parking Garage

WHY
Last year, the Downtown Food Bank distributed more than 40,000 bags of groceries to nearly 2,100 unduplicated clients, and the demand for food keeps growing. SHA encourages employees to donate, volunteer and make an impact in the city in which they live and work. SHA continues to support its annual fundraising gala beneficiary, the Market Foundation, through efforts such as these. Collecting food from SHA member hotels provides critical support to the downtown Seattle community.

INTERVIEWS
Seattle Hotel Association president, Howard Cohen
The Market Foundation executive director, Marlys Erickson
Downtown Food Bank manager, Kevin Futhey

EVENT SNAPSHOTS (click images for larger view)
images by William Wright Photography

Charitable Activities
The Seattle Hotel Association and its member hotels actively support local and national community and charitable organizations in a variety of ways. Cash and in-kind donations by hotels to auctions, raffles and other events exceed a million dollars on an annual basis. The Seattle Hotel Association also sponsors the Evening of Hope Gala described in greater detail below.

Evening of Hope
The Seattle Hotel Association created the Evening of Hope Gala in 1996 to showcase the organizations effort to make a difference for people in our community. Over the past eleven years, proceeds from this event have benefited Northwest Aids, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Puget Sound Affiliate and now Plymouth Housing Group. The Evening of Hope Gala has raised well over 3.7 million dollars for these deserving local charities and the Seattle Hotel Association is proud to continue our service to the community.

All proceeds from the Evening of Hope Gala benefit our selected charity and through the volunteer effort of the Seattle Hotel Association members and designated charity organizations the event has grown to be one of the most successful Gala's in Seattle's history.

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