North Carolina Hardee’s restaurants kick off a fundraiser today to provide educational scholarships for children of fallen Fort Bragg soldiers while also offering contributing customers great discounts on Hardee’s menu items.
The in-restaurant fundraiser for the Patriot Foundation will be a six-week campaign that continues at Hardee’s locations statewide through Nov. 11, Veterans Day. For the first time, all 230 Hardee’s restaurants across North Carolina will participate in the fundraiser this year.
Customers can purchase a $1 Patriot Foundation flag which entitles the buyer to a special coupon booklet–with discounts valued at more than $10–for Hardee’s menu items. The flags will be displayed in the restaurants with the customer’s name. All of the proceeds from the sales of flags will go directly to the Patriot Foundation.
The Patriot Foundation supports four charities that provide scholarships for dependent children of fallen Special Operations, the 82nd Airborne, the 18th Airborne Corps, and the Warrior Transition Battalion soldiers, all based at Fort Bragg. The foundation also provides funding for child care for the families of disabled soldiers whose spouses need to obtain additional job training and development.
“We’re excited to have the support of all the Hardee’s in our state to help raise money for these families to pursue the dream of a college education or other training,” says Chuck Deleot, chairman of the Patriot Foundation based in Pinehurst.
“It also communicates to our deployed soldiers that North Carolinians appreciate their service and want to make a difference in their families’ lives.”
“As part of the Hardee’s ‘family’ here in North Carolina, we’re committed to the work of the Patriot Foundation and what they’re doing for many of our state’s military families who have made great sacrifices on our country’s behalf,” says Jerry Allsbrook, chief marketing officer for Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the largest Hardee’s franchise operator both in North Carolina and the United States.
Boddie-Noell expanded its participation from strictly the Fayetteville area last year to all 133 of its Hardee’s locations in the state. Each restaurant will display posters to remind customers about the kickoff of the campaign.
To date, more than 350 children of soldiers have received scholarship support from the organization since the Patriot Foundation’s founding in 2003.
