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DARDEN RESTAURANTS
GREATER
LOS ANGELES AFRICAN AMERICAN CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE (GLAAACC)
Darden has supported
the GLAAACC for years, sponsoring events, participating on boards and teaming
up with local Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants for community
fundraisers. In recognition of our contributions to the Southern California
African American community and our national commitment to diversity through
partnerships with numerous minority organizations, in April the Chamber named
Darden Restaurants its Corporation of the Year for 2000.
ATLANTA URBAN LEAGUE SAT
PREPARATION PROGRAM
Through our Diversity
Management Department, Darden is helping support this Scholastic Aptitude Test
(SAT) preparation program for high school youth in Atlanta to make it possible
for more inner-city students to attend college. Since 1990 the program has provided
instruction and guidance to more than 1,000 young people, preparing them not
only to take the SAT, but also providing career counseling and parent involvement
sessions. The program has helped many students raise their SAT scores as much
as 100 points and helped them qualify for academic scholarships.
Protecting the Environment
We strongly believe in being responsible stewards of the planet’s natural resources. Through the Darden Environmental Trust, the Darden Restaurants Foundation supports efforts to protect and preserve the environment, especially programs that improve and reclaim fragile ecosystems, preserve natural areas and habitats, and build awareness of the importance of environmental preservation and developing sustainable resources.
THE SEA TURTLE CONSERVATION
PROJECT
Twenty years ago,
the rare Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle was near extinction. Today, thanks to the
Sea Turtle Conservation Project in Rancho Nuevo on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, the
species is making a strong comeback, growing from 700 nests in 1985 to about
4,000 this year. Partially funded by the Darden Restaurants Foundation, the
project has been working since the 1970s to protect Kemp’s Ridley nesting sites
along a 70-mile stretch of beach, where the female turtles come every year to
lay their eggs.
NATURE CONSERVANCY
The Trust has contributed
$90,000 over two years to help fund the Nature Conservancy’s Blowing Rocks Preserve
project. The project has restored a large portion of the natural habitat on
Jupiter Island in the Indian River Lagoon on Florida’s east-central coast. In
addition to the funding, volunteers from the Red Lobster in Stuart, Florida,
have also personally contributed their time to help restore the preserve.
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Student researchers at the School for Field Studies in the Turks and Caicos islands prepare to install an artificial lobster habitat. Grants from the Darden Environmental Trust help fund the project. |
SCHOOL
FOR FIELD STUDIES
The Darden Environmental
Trust helps fund this marine research program in the Turks and Caicos islands
in the Caribbean. Students from U.S. universities attend the school to research
lobster habitats, looking into how pollution and other environmental factors
are affecting our seafood supply and testing ways to boost lobster populations
with artificial habitats called casitas. It’s groundbreaking research that could
help restore damaged marine ecosystems and improve the sustainability of lobster
fisheries.
THE LOBSTER CONSERVANCY
The Darden Restaurants
Foundation helps fund this lobster conservation project. The Lobster Conservancy’s
(TLC) mission is to help enhance and conserve the lobster industry through research
and public awareness. TLC has conducted long-term monitoring in the Gulf of
Maine for five years, identifying intertidal lobster nursery grounds. Protecting
these nurseries is critical to the species’ long-term sustainability. The data
being collected by TLC scientists and volunteers could help gauge the health
of the lobster population and provide a mechanism for detecting potential problems
before they affect the lobster supply.
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