Posted on 12/30/2003 4:03:16 AM PST by truthandlife
The chief executive officer of the Baja Fresh Mexican Grill restaurant chain says a fundraising event for NARAL "Pro-Choice" America, held at one of the chain's Washington, D.C. locations, violated company policy and should never have happened.
The company says an inexperienced worker with limited English language skills thought she was merely helping a customer when she authorized the event without a manager's knowledge or approval.
The pro-life community focused additional scrutiny on the fundraiser because famed adoption advocate Dave Thomas founded Wendy's International, the company that now owns Baja Fresh.
In a promotional flyer obtained by CNSNews.com, NARAL "Pro-Choice" America - the pro-abortion group formerly known as the National Abortion Rights Action League - invited supporters to "Eat fresh, raise funds! Help earn important dollars for our cause.
"When you come in to the location listed below, and bring this flyer, Baja Fresh will donate 15 [percent] of the proceeds to our cause!" the flyer explained. It also encouraged readers to "Enjoy great Baja Fresh food while benefiting NARAL Pro-Choice America ... to help protect women and their right to choose." No mention was made of the group's primary mission - maintaining and expanding access to legalized abortion.
The flyer was produced from a template given to non-profit groups to promote their fundraising partnerships with Baja Fresh. Organizations add their name and logo, along with the location, date and time of their scheduled event and then distribute the flyers. The NARAL fundraiser was held Dec. 15, 2003, at the company's 1990 K Street northwest location in Washington, D.C.
In a statement given to CNSNews.com, Baja Fresh CEO Greg Dollarhyde apologized for the mistake and explained that his company only supports "non-political 501(c)3 (non-profit) organizations [such as] schools, and senior citizens [and] youth groups.
"We make every effort to ensure that our fundraising activities do not in any way offend any of our customers," Dollarhyde stressed. "Our general manager at the K Street northwest location regrets that he was not aware that an employee had set up a fundraiser for a group with a controversial social agenda."
Baja Fresh' reputation for helping legitimate charities, combined with the history of its parent company, contributed to the initial shock and confusion about the event in the pro-life community. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's International, the parent company of Baja Fresh, died in 2002, but is best remembered for two things - serving as spokesman for the chain in its television commercials and his passionate promotion of adoption.
Described in a press release on the Wendy's International, Inc., website as having been "a private and shy person," Thomas acknowledged on numerous occasions that his notoriety was not without benefit.
"The one good thing about being famous," Thomas often said, "is that it gives me an opportunity to attract attention to causes and issues that are important to me."
Key among those issues was adoption. Thomas, who was adopted as a child, headed the White House Initiative on Adoption for President George H.W. Bush, beginning in 1990.
"If we can get just one child, just one boy or girl adopted into a loving family," Thomas said, "all our work will be worth it."
Thomas was credited for his role in convincing Congress to pass legislation that gave parents a one-time $5,000 adoption tax credit and made it easier and quicker to adopt children from foster care. He encouraged corporate CEOs to include adoption assistance as an employee benefit and approximately 75 percent of the Fortune 1000 currently do so.
In 1992, he created the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a non-profit corporation that continues its work to increase adoptions of the more than 150,000 children in North America's foster care system.
"I just know everyone deserves a family and love," said Thomas, who described himself as "simply a hamburger cook."
Thomas, who was 69 when he passed away on Jan. 8, 2002, was described in "Remembering Dave Thomas," a memorial produced after his death, as "a humble giant of the restaurant industry.
"Dave's values, which he passed on to the Wendy's family, included simple ideas like give back to your community, treat people with respect, always do the right thing and hold on to your integrity," the document stated.
Bill Murray, spokesman for the Family Research Council, said he could not imagine why a company founded on Thomas' values and carrying his pro-adoption legacy would allow its name to be used to promote abortion.
"As an adopted child himself, Dave Thomas exemplified the pro-life movement, he exemplified the pro-life options that are available to women who are facing unplanned pregnancies," Murray observed. "That would really fly in the face of everything he stood for."
Michael Schwartz - spokesman for the Culture and Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America - said Dollarhyde's statement confirmed his initial suspicion that a lower level employee had approved the event.
"Probably he or she thought this was within corporate guidelines; if there's no law against it, you must be allowed to do it is probably the philosophy here," Schwartz said. "However, I think that, Wendy's corporate management and Baja Fresh' regional management ... are likely to make clear to their store manager that they're jeopardizing the brand name and buying a lot of bad will when they [allow] this sort of thing."
An industry source familiar with the details of the incident, who did not want to be identified, told CNSNews.com that the event was only approved because of a combination of luck, timing and "unfortunate" circumstances.
"The manager was out of the store when the person [from NARAL] came in and a three-month long employee, who was filling in, who has English as a second language, who had no idea what she was authorizing, said 'yes' to this," the source explained.
"The company would never endorse either a pro-abortion or a pro-life fundraiser," the source added, explaining that company officials understand that their business is to sell food, not to alienate current and potential customers by getting involved in divisive social issues.
"We are sorry that this type of controversial social issue became attached to our brand," Dollarhyde said through a spokesperson.
Examples of authorized groups Baja Fresh Mexican Grill has helped with fundraising include local parent-teacher associations, foundations caring for the seriously ill, those researching cures for diseases and rescue and relief organizations responding to disasters. In early November 2003, 10 San Diego Baja Fresh Mexican Grill restaurants donated 15 percent of the proceeds from a full evening's sales to families left homeless by wildfires in the region. The money was given to the local Salvation Army Disaster Fund for distribution to the needy victims.
On Christmas Eve, Baja Fresh donated more than 4,000 meals to hospital emergency room personnel nationwide, "because they [gave] up their holiday to help those in need," Dollarhyde explained. He hopes customers will associate Baja Fresh with that type of charitable work and not blame the company for an inexperienced employee's mistake.
Multiple calls to NARAL "Pro-Choice" America seeking comment for this report were not returned.
Dave did more good in this world, and more for women, than NARAL could ever dream of doing. May he rest in peace.
People should be sure to thank a manager for their stand. It will get up the management chain eventually.
You could also go to Wendy's message board and leave a note.
I think it goes without saying I know if I had been running that location or higher up the corporate latter, someone would be so fired it would be unbelievable.
It further goes without saying the manager should be bitch slapped for hiring someone who did not have a reasonable command of the English language.
I contrast this corporate policy with Chick-fil-a, also owned and operated by a Christian with convictions. They are much more stringent in their hiring, requiring applicants to answer an ethics quiz. They actively recruit homeschoolers.
My son is at an age now where he is looking for a McJob. Unfortunately, Widow Kroc is a Democrat activist whose politics turn my stomach.
You can't get away from politics. I told my son to apply someplace where he likes the food.
I knew a painter once - his church was the Ladder Day Saints...
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