Muskingum Starlight Industries, which offers employment, recreation and educational activities for people with developmental disabilities, announced it has been selected to receive a $1,000 grant as part of the inaugural Restaurant Community Grant Program from the Darden Foundation, the charitable arm of Darden Restaurants Inc.
The Restaurant Community Grant Program is a local grants program intended to help support nonprofit organizations in the hundreds of communities Darden and its restaurant brands serve.
The donation will enable MSI's project to provide opportunities for individuals to participate in environmental classes in and around Zanesville. Topics will include recycling, rivers and lakes, taking care of nature and learning about native birds.
Restaurants within the Darden family -- Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52 -- are helping to award more than $1.7 million in local grants to almost 900 nonprofit organizations nationwide. Nonprofits receiving grants support one of Darden's three key focus areas: access to postsecondary education, preservation of natural resources and hunger.
This grant will cover the cost to send small groups of people to training sites in the community, primarily the state parks in Muskingum County, Blue Rock and Dillon, and the Muskingum River throughout the summer and fall. While there, participants will have the opportunity to learn about the environment through hands-on activities led by a local naturalist.
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Original article can be found here: http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20120531/NEWS01/205310330/Starlight-receive-1-000-grant
