SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Azul Latin Kitchen, located in the Heavenly Village, recently awarded a check for $13,000 to Bread and Broth. The donation was largely in part from a $1 donation by Azul for every Queso Fundido appetizer sold (fundido appetizer contributions put the “FUN” in fundraising!), as well the annual fundraiser held at the end of November.

“Azul Latin Kitchen is proud to support our community through frequent fundraising events,” said Ray Villaman, owner and CEO of Azul and Base Camp Pizza Co. “I am particularly proud of our GM, Kristin Beebe, for orchestrating this year’s fundraising efforts. This year’s success is due to the collective effort of Azul’s management, employees, Bread & Broth volunteers, and our partner companies. We are always pleased to support Bread & Broth with this contribution.”

General Manager Kristin Beebe commented, “Azul was so honored to partner with our local non-profit Bread & Broth for the past year. The work they do to ease hunger in our community is so inspiring and important. From their Monday night dinners to their Friday night soup meals, not to mention all they donate to kids in the local schools. Some of our employees had the opportunity to volunteer serving meals on Monday nights and were able to see how much they help our community. We are so excited to contribute to this foundation and help make a difference.”

“This will be the 7th year we have worked with a local nonprofit organization. Every year we look to identify local nonprofit organizations that support kids and families in our community. We host an annual staff meeting where our staff votes for the organization that they want to support. We find that when our staff selects the organization, they take more pride in the partnership. There is more interest in volunteering for and supporting that organization. Working with us is more than just a job serving tacos. We have a bigger purpose, and the team appreciates being part of that,” said Danny Scott, Director of Operations with the Tahoe Restaurant Group.

Local nonprofits interested in being chosen for the annual partnership can email the restaurant directly at azultahoe@gmail.com. To be considered as a potential partner, organizations must meet these requirements: a non-profit located in South Lake Tahoe that supports families and children.

“Bread & Broth is truly honored to have been selected as Azul’s 2024 partner for their annual drive to collect funds for a local South Lake Tahoe non-profit. Over the years, Azul has been very generous to our organization through donations of raffle items, participating as Adopt-A-Day sponsors, and offering support as needed to help us meet our mission of easing hunger in our community,” said Carol Gerard, Director of Bread & Broth.

“The funds raised by Azul during the past year will go to the very special cause of helping feed the hungry children in our community through Bread & Broth’s B&B 4 Kids program. B&B 4 Kids provides weekend bags of nutritious, kid-friendly food to food-insecure children from the ages of 18 months through 18 years of age attending LTUDS schools and 5 local childcare centers that serve low-income families. The Kids’ bags contain nutritious meals, snacks, fresh fruit and vegetables and are currently being given to over 300 children to supplement their nutritional needs over the weekend,” added Gerard.

“The funding will also support B&B 4 Kids Summer program and the weekly purchase of over 1,000 nutrition bars given to schools for distribution to hungry children during the school day. Ensuring adequate nutrition benefits all aspects of a child’s life and increases their success throughout their entire lives. Thank you to Azul and their team members for their community spirit and efforts to help non-profits like Bread & Broth. Our partnership with Azul and their very generous donation to our Kids’ program will have a tremendous impact on the children we serve in the year to come,” said Gerard.

For more information or to make a donation to help Bread & Broth realize its goals, go to https://breadandbroth.org.