THE OUTBACK STEAK HOUSE

OutBack Steakhouse has sponsored a Steak & Steak Dinner to benefit the boys & Girls Club for the past four years. Annually the volunteers from the organization have donated in excess of 1,200 hours of service. Through the generosity of the OutBack, the Daytona Beach Boys & Girls Club has been able to establish a signature event that raises much needed resources to fund eight Boys & Girls Clubs.

It is a special night out for the youth to earn a strip to Steak & Steak to be representatives of the Club. This event raises the awareness of the Boys & Girls Club by bringing together business and community leaders to meet the children the organization serves. For the past four years, this event has raised more than $175,000 for the club.

Club members earn the privilege of acting as an ambassador by their involvement, good academic performance and behavior. The children are special guests of honor, and the last event was the second largest source of funding for the Boys & Girls Club operations.

The OutBack’s sponsorship has allowed the Boys & Girls Club to secure the Daytona International Speedway as a cost free site for the event. In addition, the Club solicited all of the printing at no cost from Pro Tech Printers and a Master of Ceremonies from Channel-2 WESH. The Orlando Sentinel Family Fund also matched at a significant percentage all the funds raised at this event, and they provided four free half-page ads in the local section of the newspaper.

OutBack Steakhouse does the Steak & Steak event throughout Florida and the Southeast. They provide all the food, and their employees volunteer at the events. In addition to raising resources, this event creates a heightened awareness of the mission of the Boys & Girls Club sites throughout the state. There were three Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the community in 1998, but there are eight clubs now; and the Steak & Steak Dinner has made this growth possible.