Restaurant Neighbor Award 2008 Finalist
New Hampshire

The Common Man Family of Restaurants
Ashland, NH

In the summer of 2007, food banks across New Hampshire faced a critical shortage of food and funds. Food stocks were down by more than half a million pounds, with demand rising by 40 percent. Within a matter of days, Common Man CEO Jason Lyon devised a program to restock the shelves and raise public awareness about the ongoing need. Lyon worked with his restaurant teams to place drop-off bins for food and collection containers for monetary donations at several Common Man restaurants. Donations began pouring in, allowing the Common Man Family to deliver more than 1,600 pounds of food to the New Hampshire Food Bank. In addition, the Common Man Invitational Golf Tournament raised $10,000 for the food bank. Sales from Common Man’s 2007 holiday coupon book allowed the company to give an additional $9,750. The Common Man’s involvement helped the food bank continue its mission to end hunger in New Hampshire and support more than 350 soup kitchens and other organizations that feed more than 62,000 people in the state.

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