Great American Cookies and Pretzel Maker Locations Raise Money to Benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
SUGAR LAND: Sugarland Mayor James Thompson presented a check of $50,385.40 to Rachele Ferraro and Misty Hughes of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) on February 4 at a small ceremony held at the Great American Cookies store located inside the First Colony Mall.
From left: Sven Verbeet, Siju Tom, Biju George, Misty Hughes, Harish Jajoo, Rachele Ferraro, Donna Molho, Rajiv Grover, Brij Agrawal, Joseph Bailey, Mayor James Thompson, Sam Agrawal, Angel Magana, Maureen Collins, and Tim Linderman.
Global Franchise Group (GFG), the Franchisor of Great American Cookies and Pretzel Maker, partnered with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as a Special Friend in the fight against cancer in 2013.
From left: Misty Hughes, Rachele Ferraro, Mayor James Thompson, and Brij Agrawal.
The funds were raised by the employees of Sugarland based VKC Refreshment LP d/b/a Great American Cookies, and Pretzel Maker in the Greater Houston area. Funds were raised by selling paper balloons for small donations and through various other fund raising events leading up to the inspirational and memorable 14th annual Light The Night (LTN) walk at Discovery Green in Houston and at Market Street in The Woodlands. At the LTN participants carried illuminated balloons; white for survivors, red in support and gold in memory of a lost loved one.
VKC Refreshment LP employees also formed a team called VKC Get Fresh Crew to fundraise online. VKC ran contests between the stores and had prizes for top fundraiser and top store. This was a great way to build team morale and educate the community about LLS while having a fun competition and helping to save lives. This team was also present at both walks, passing out cookie cake slices to participants and their families.
In 2013, LTN teams (including VKC Get Fresh Crew) raised $56 million worldwide for blood cancer research. Locally, the Walk raised over $1.1 million. Through LTN, anyone young and old can have maximum impact on the LLS mission to find cures and improve the quality of life for blood cancer patients and their families. As there is no means of preventing or early screening for blood cancer, funding research is critical.
“As one of the proud sponsors of this fund raising event, the VKC Refreshment team is honored to invite Mayor Thompson to come and present the check of $50,385.40 to the LLS”, said Rajiv Grover of VKC Refreshment LP. This is a great cause that benefits the cancer research and helps support the cancer patients, said Brij Agrawal of VKC Refreshment LP. “The funds raised by VKC Refreshment LP will help save lives”, said Mayor Thompson.
Guests present at the Ceremony were Sugarland Council Member Harish Jajoo, First Colony Mall Manager Donna Molho, VP Franchise Development Global Franchise Group (GFG) Tim Linderman.
The VKC Refreshment LP Team was represented by Brij Agrawal, Rajiv Grover, Sam Agrawal, Biju George, Siju Tom, Sven Verbeet, Joseph Baily, Angel Magana, and the proud employees of the Great American Cookies store located inside the First Colony Mall. The VKC Refreshment LP employees successfully demonstrated that even small change in the form of pennies and dollar bills can add up to make big change in the area of blood cancer research.
For further information, visit www.LightTheNight.org/txg and www.vkcgrp.com.
About VKC Refreshment LP
The VKC Refreshment LP operates 28 stores in the Great Houston area doing business as Great American Cookies, Pretzel Maker, and TCBY. These stores are located inside of the various Shopping Malls in and around Houston.
About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to curing blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services for patients and their loved ones. To date, thanks to nationwide participation in these walks and other donations, LLS has been able to invest more than $875 million in research to advance breakthrough cancer treatments that are saving lives today.