Westwood restaurants to raise funds for summer Special Olympics
By Sujung Hahn
June 1, 2015 1:31 a.m.
Several restaurants in Westwood Village will donate money from food sales on certain days this week to fundraise for the Special Olympics World Games, which will be held in Los Angeles this summer.
From June 2-7, businesses will donate at least 10 percent of their sales on their scheduled fundraising days to the Special Olympics Support An Athlete campaign, said Megan Furey, the Westwood Business Improvement Association’s communications manager. Merchants will only donate to the campaign if customers present them with fundraising flyers posted on the Westwood Village website.
The Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports event for disabled individuals. About 7,000 athletes from 177 countries will arrive in Los Angeles this summer. UCLA will host many of the Special Olympics competitions including tennis matches, softball games and gymnastics meets.
California Pizza Kitchen, Novel Cafe, Bella Pita, BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, Michael K. Jeweler’s and Veggie Grill are participating in fundraising efforts.
Third-year biochemistry student Alia Bakr said she will eat at Novel Cafe next week to support the fundraising efforts because she thinks the Special Olympics can boost confidence for many disabled community members in Los Angeles.
California Pizza Kitchen will donate 20 percent of its sales Tuesday. Managing partner Michelle Rhine said she and BID officials are still working to set more dates during the week for California Pizza Kitchen to help with the fundraiser.
“I am especially excited about next week’s program because it’s rare for the Summer Olympics to take place in the Los Angeles area,” Rhine said.
Veggie Grill will donate 50 percent of its sales from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Sunday. General Manager Vanessa Galvan said she expects the Special Olympics fundraiser to benefit the community in preparing for the event and give Veggie Grill more publicity.
Third-year English student Melodia Spisarczuk said she thinks the fundraising week is a good idea, but the program could be more heavily advertised.
“I (had) never heard of the fundraising week until now,” Spisarczuk said. “Since there are specific steps customers should take for businesses to donate their sales, I don’t think they would be able to donate much with such little advertisement of the instructions.”
Los Angeles will host the Special Olympics World Games from July 25 to August 2.
