Students, faculty, and staff at Tulane University in New Orleans recently teamed up with McIlhenny Company and Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce to spread a little extra holiday warmth and cheer to some hard-working youth.
Hundreds of students and their guests gathered recently in Tulane’s Bruff Commons dining hall and wrote personal messages on red and white aprons to encourage and post holiday wishes to at-risk youth participating in work training at Café Reconcile in New Orleans. McIlhenny Company provided the aprons and created a special “Snow Day at Bruff Commons” with themed food station menu items, décor, and photo booth for students to capture the festivities.
A donation check from the lunch sale proceeds from the event, a package of the brand’s signature products, and the signed aprons were presented by Tulane University with the help of McIlhenny Company to administrators, faculty, staff, and board members of Café Reconcile.
According to McIlhenny Company, the family-owned and operated maker of Tabasco brand Pepper Sauce, the Snow Day event was a sequel to a successful effort with Tulane students, with whom the company partnered last year to send a care package and oversized holiday greeting banner to military serving in Afghanistan over the holidays.
“We had such a positive response from our military event with Tulane last year, so wanted to capitalize on that success this year in a way that would benefit Café Reconcile,” says Stacy Hingle, foodservice division marketing manager for McIlhenny Company. “We appreciate the great work Café Reconcile is doing to provide at-risk youth hands-on training in the foodservice industry. So this year’s partnership between Tabasco and Tulane to benefit Café Reconcile and future talent in the foodservice industry has been both fun and especially meaningful for us.”
McIlhenny Company worked with Tulane University Dining to provide special holiday-inspired menu items at food stations incorporating various flavors of Tabasco Sauce.
“It is great to see the Tulane-Sodexo community partner with the New Orleans community and Tabasco to execute a well-organized event that supports a great program, Café Reconcile. When we hold event like Tabasco Day, not only does the community benefit, but so do our employees. They have the opportunity to prepare, execute, and sample great recipes created by the Tabasco and our Sodexo Chefs,” says Travis Johnson, district executive chef with Sodexo for Tulane University.
