National Restaurant Association Recognizes Strings Restaurant’s Noel and Tammy Cunningham for Commitment to Community Service

Colorado-based restaurateurs receive prestigious Restaurant Neighbor Award for their charitable efforts in Ethiopia

Washington, DC  (RestaurantNews.com)  The National Restaurant Association will today recognize Noel and Tammy Cunningham, owners of Strings Restaurant in Denver, Colo., as one of this year’s Restaurant Neighbor Award winners during a gala dinner at its 2012 Public Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. The award celebrates outstanding community service efforts that restaurateurs perform in their respective communities.

The Cunninghams were recognized as this year’s Cornerstone Humanitarian for their charity work in Ethiopia and throughout the Denver community.

“We are proud to present the Restaurant Neighbor Award to some of the most inspiring examples of community service in our industry,” said Dawn Sweeney, National Restaurant Association President and CEO. “We are committed to positively enhancing the quality of life for all we serve, and philanthropic activities are an important part of this mission. The Cunninghams’ dedication to helping the people of Ethiopia is inspiring and shows that restaurants are often the leaders in helping people not only in their own communities, but around the world.”

Noel and Tammy Cunningham launched The Cunningham Foundation in 2003. In Ethiopia, the foundation partners with the Mother Teresa Aids Orphanage and Ethiopia Reads, an organization that raises money to expand the amount of children’s libraries. Since the partnership formed, Ethiopia Reads has built and currently operates 47 libraries throughout the country.

To date, the foundation has raised about $750,000 for impoverished Ethiopians. As a bridge between the developing world and the developed world, an important part of the organization’s mission is to enlist tomorrow’s philanthropists today by encouraging young people to raise awareness and money for those who are less fortunate. The Cunninghams have always put a high value on giving back both globally and locally, playing an instrumental role in the launch of hunger relief nonprofit organization Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation and with its Quarter for Kids program that enlists young people, future philanthropists, to raise money to support other kids in homeless shelters.

The National Restaurant Association will present Tammy Cunningham, who will accept the award on behalf of her and her late husband, with the award, along with a $5,000 charitable contribution, at a gala dinner during its 2012 Public Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. American Express is the founding partner of the Restaurant Neighbor Award. It was developed in 1999 in an effort to raise awareness of the industry’s contributions to local communities throughout the country and to inspire more owners and operators to get involved and contribute to their respective communities.

“American Express is proud to partner with the National Restaurant Association to honor the contributions restaurateurs across the country make to their communities,” said Curtis L. Wilson, Vice President and General Manager, Restaurant, Lodging & Insurance Industries, American Express. “Through charitable gifts of food, time, and resources, restaurants have a tangible and lasting impact on their communities; we hope these actions inspire others to do the same.”

In addition to the Cunningham Foundation, the National Restaurant Association recognized three others with the 2012 Restaurant Neighbor Award. They are: ARAMARK in Philadelphia, in the large-size business category, Taste Buds Management in New Orleans, in the mid-size business category and King Eider’s Pub and Restaurant in Damariscotta, Maine, in the small business category.

For more information on the Restaurant Neighbor Award program, as well as the national winners and finalists, visit the National Restaurant Association’s website, www.restaurant.org/awards.

Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 970,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of nearly 13 million employees. We represent the industry in Washington, D.C., and advocate on its behalf. We operate the industry’s largest trade show (NRA Show May 5-8, 2012, in Chicago); leading food safety training and certification program (ServSafe); unique career-building high school program (the NRAEF’s ProStart, including the National ProStart Invitational April 27-29, 2012, in Baltimore, Md.); as well as the Kids LiveWell program promoting healthful kids’ menu options. For more information, visit www.restaurant.org and find us on Twitter @WeRRestaurants, Facebook and YouTube.