For the second consecutive summer, Meatheads and The Goulden Touch, the public charity founded by Chicago Bears Kicker Robbie Gould, partnered to offer customers a popular limited edition charity burger, “The Goulden Burger”, created in honor of The Goulden Touch, which supports education, social services, health, and wellness, as well as medical research programs in Chicago.
A total of 17,115 burgers were sold from June 9 through September 30, raising $12,000 for The Goulden Touch, which more than doubles the amount Meatheads donated last year.
Like Meatheads, The Goulden Touch and Robbie have a special interest in helping kids with reading. A portion of the funds generated from sales of the Goulden Burger, a one-third pound Meatheads burger topped with bacon, lettuce, tomato, Ketchapolte, American cheese, and spicy Cajun fries for a “kick,” will go to Working in the Schools, an organizationthat offers tutoring and mentoring programs for Chicago Public School children.
“Education and reading is incredibly important to me personally, and to The Goulden Touch,” says founder of The Goulden Touch, Robbie Gould. “In 2013, with the help and support of our incredible partner, Meatheads, we were able to help support over 3,000 WITS’ students in their summer reading program. With this year’s donation, we are excited to surpass that number to positively influence even more WITS’ students in the Chicago Public Schools.”
In addition to the burger sales goal, Meatheads surpassed its Summer Voracious Reading program goal, encouraging more than 125,000 kids to read over the summer. To reach readers of all ages, Meatheads also hosted a variety of reading related community events at nearly all of the 15 restaurant locations.
“We set an aggressive goal to double our donation to The Goulden Touch this year, and because of our loyal customers, we exceeded that $10,000 donation goal,” says Tom Jednorowicz, founder and CEO of Meatheads. “Reading is important to our Meatheads community year round, but we especially look forward to helping parents prevent the summer slide with their kids. This year’s Summer Voracious Reading program participation was the highest yet.”
