MEDIA ADVISORY

For Immediate Release

December 2, 2011

Contact: Megan Williams, 207-861-8131

                 Hardy Girls Healthy Women Receives $3,000 Donation from The Red Barn

Waterville — Today, Hardy Girls Healthy Women received a $3,000 donation from The Red Barn, a renowned chicken and seafood family restaurant that has been serving customers in Augusta for over thirty years. The Red Barn also recently opened a second location in Winslow.

The Red Barn’s owner, Laura Benedict, is well-known as the owner of one of Central Maine’s most successful family-owned restaurants. However, she is also a generous philanthropist, whose commitment to her community is evidenced by her support for a number of local organizations. In fact, the restaurant regularly donates all tips to a local nonprofit organization.  To date, The Red Barn has raised close to $100,000 for over 40 different charities causes.

For November, the Red Barn selected Hardy Girls Healthy Women, a Waterville-based organization serving girls and young women, as the recipient of all customer tips.

“Thank you to all of our customers for supporting the Red Barn in our partnership with Hardy Girls Healthy Women. Together, we will make a difference in the lives of dozens of young women, which is tremendously important to me. The Red Barn is dedicated to the well-being of the Central Maine community, and are pleased to be part of the solution, positively affecting as many girls as possible,” said Benedict.
Hardy Girls Healthy Women Board Member Allyson Schade Karter and President Megan Williams visited with Laura at the Augusta Red Barn today to thank her, along with Red Barn staff and customers, for their remarkable generosity.

“We're so honored to have been included in Laura's generous philanthropy through the Red Barn.  Each year, 75-80% of girls attend Hardy Girls' programs on full or partial scholarship.  The tips donated by The Red Barn customers in November allow us to scholarship 60 girls to attend one of our Adventure Girls sessions," said Williams.

 
About the Red Barn

The Red Barn has been a mainstay of our community since 1977, when Bob Benedict opened the original restaurant and started serving chicken and seafood to local citizens and curious tourists. Thanks to Laura’s tenacity, and the patronage of countless loyal customers who keep coming back year after year, the Red Barn can proudly claim its status as one of the very last and busiest family owned and operated restaurants in the area.

 
About Hardy Girls Healthy Women

Hardy Girls Healthy Women is a non-profit located in Waterville, Maine working to ensure all women and girls are independent, safe and equal in their everyday lives.  HGHW directly serves 800 girls in 2nd-12th grade each year.  Our programming extends across the state of Maine and our resource distribution and networks are comprised of more than 25,000 people and reaches 38 states and a number of communities outside the U.S.

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L to R: Ally Karter, Laura Benedict, Shane Benedict, Peter Benedict, Megan Williams at The Red Barn