Arby’s restaurants, Eblen Charities provide free meals to Buncombe County children in need

Press release from Eblen Charities:

Christmas Holidays away from school is not always an event that every student looks forward to as school lets out for the rest of the year.

Along with no classes, sleeping late, Christmas parties, and as family and friends get together comes a side of the Christmas Holidays that few like to think about. And that is how many children in our community will have to face hunger while at home away from school.

As one in five children in our community struggle with hunger each day, many times the meals they receive at school is the only food they will have to eat and when the holidays arrive, they face the chance of going hungry until they are back in class.

To reach out to these children, five years ago Arby’s, The Brumit Restaurant Group, the Arby’s Foundation, and Eblen Charities joined together to create Arby’s JoyFULL Holidays at Home program to provide children with the food they may have to go without during the holidays.

How the Program Works:

In partnership with the Buncombe County and Asheville City School Systems, the JoyFull Home for the Holidays provides an Arby’s Meal Card and will be providing 60,000 meals so students in need can visit any Arby’s in our area eat free each day during the Holidays. The cards are distributed through the schools.

“Arby’s and the Brumit Restaurant Group have been involved for a great many years in reaching out to children who are in need of food. Arby’s partners on a national level through ‘No Kid Hungry’ that works to ensure that every child has access to healthy food every day,” states Joe Brumit, CEO of Brumit Restaurant Group and board member of Eblen Charities.

“We wanted to make sure that children in our own community have enough to eat, especially during those longer holiday breaks. We firmly believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to reach out to these children and are proud and honored to be partnering with Eblen in making sure they have a truly joyful holiday season.”

The Arby’s / Brumit Restaurant Group JoyFull Holidays at Home works hand in hand with the Ingles / Eblen Food for Thought program which collects and provides easy to prepare meals for students to have at home while at home and Herpes vs Hunger that brings together the worlds of sports, entertainment, business, and education to battle children’s hunger.

“We are honored and grateful to Joe, Arby’s, and the Brumit Restaurant Group for their kindness and generosity in making sure that children who are less fortunate in these difficult times do not have to go hungry when they are out of school,” adds Bill Murdock, Executive Director of Eblen Charities. “I have had the wonderful opportunity to have known and been friends with Joe since the very beginning of Eblen Charities, and he was instrumental in the creation of Eblen. He and I have talked for some time on developing a unique program and partnership that would serve those in need in our community. Our community is indeed fortunate to have a company such as the Brumit Restaurant Group, Arby’s, and the Arby’s Foundation who reach out to so many in need. Western North Carolina certainly has no greater friends.”