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Kansas City Restaurant Week organizers are pleased to announce three local charitable partners as beneficiaries of 2015 Kansas City Restaurant Week. The donations raised during the 2015 event will benefit BoysGrow, Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired and Cultivate Kansas City. The Kansas City Regional Destination Development Foundation and the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association Education Foundation, will again receive a portion of the donations, as well.

Kansas City Restaurant Week returns Jan. 16–25, 2015, for its sixth consecutive year. Founded by the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association (KCCVA) and the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association (GKCRA), the annual metro-wide dining event currently has 94 restaurants enrolled, the most ever at this point in the planning stages of Kansas City Restaurant Week.

2015 Kansas City Restaurant Week Beneficiaries

BoysGrow (www.boysgrow.com) – Founded in 2010, the mission of BoysGrow is to teach entrepreneurism to urban male youth in the Kansas City area through farming and agriculture. The organization operates two working farms maintained by male youth, ages 13-16, from throughout the metro. Participants use fruits and vegetables grown at the farms to create products such as ketchup, salsa, barbecue sauce and hot sauce to be sold in local restaurants and food stores.

Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (www.ccvi.org) – Founded in 1952 in the basement of an area church, CCVI has grown to serve more than 300 children annually from birth to age eight in the Kansas City metro with visual impairments. The center offers programs for children and their families including a food program designed to teach children with visual impairments positive eating habits, leading to the development of good health and positive social skills.

Cultivate Kansas City (www.cultivatekc.org) – Founded in 2005, the organization works to grow food, farms and communities for a healthier local food system in the Kansas City area. Beginning in 2015, Cultivate KC will take ownership of Beans&Greens, a program to provide incentive to those receiving government assistance to shop at local farmers markets. The program matches dollar for dollar EBT, SNAP or other assistance-program monies spent at farmers markets, allowing low-income families to effectively double their budget when purchasing healthy, locally produced items as well as bringing new customers to local farmers.

Kansas City Regional Destination Development Foundation – Administered by the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association, the foundation focuses primarily on the identification, development and advocacy of tourism products in Kansas City and its surrounding communities. The KCRDDF oversees the Heartland Tourism Ambassador training program and provides career development opportunities in tourism, with specific interest in at-risk populations, including youth, minorities and seniors. 

Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association Educational Foundation – Administered by the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association, the foundation seeks to promote the restaurant industry in the greater Kansas City area by offering scholarships to students pursuing a career in the hospitality industry.

Announcing the new charitable partners also sees the departure and a fond farewell to Harvesters – the Community Food Network as the beneficiary of the first five Kansas City Restaurant Week events. Due to the tremendous support of Kansas City and visiting diners, nearly a half-million dollars was raised for Harvesters over the course of the last five years. This amount translates to nearly 2.5 million meals provided to the hungry in Kansas City.

About Kansas City Restaurant Week
Kansas City Restaurant Week (KCRW) is KC’s premier dining event founded by the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association and the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association in an effort to support the regional restaurant community. 2015 marks the sixth year for the 10-day dining event, spotlighting KC as one of the country’s premier dining destinations. Each year, KCRW partners with local charities to raise funds for deserving causes. In 2014 alone, the 133 participating restaurants raised nearly $260,000, boosting the event’s five-year charitable total to more than $750,000. For more information, visit
KCRestaurantWeek.com, become a fan on Facebook at Facebook.com/KansasCityRestaurantWeek, or follow on Twitter at @RestaurantWeek.