Anthony Robbins Foundation donations go to San Diego Organizations for the homeless

Non-profits express their gratitude for much needed funds

SAN DIEGO, Thursday, January 13 -- Due to the local increasing problem of homelessness, the Anthony Robbins Foundation, based in San Diego, has focused its world-wide reach of feeding millions of homeless people on the problems of homeless community adults and children in San Diego.

Anthony Robbins

"Homelessness is on the rise, a result of the problems we face due to our troubled economy, but we are working with regional non-profit organizations to do something about it," says Sam Georges, President of the Anthony Robbins Foundation and CEO of Anthony Robbins Holdings. "Our goal is to help rescue these good people, who find themselves on the streets, through no fault of their own. It's our way of giving back to the community" Mr. Georges adds.

Robbins began his charity twenty-five years ago when, one day, he walked into Brother Benno's and since then his world-wide Basket Brigade feeds millions of homeless people all over the world.

Brother Benno is an organization that was founded 27 years ago by Harold Kutler, 84, and his wife Kay, who were in the vitamin business. In the course of their work they attended a World Hunger conference in Philadelphia to hear a talk given by Mother Teresa. "It changed our lives forever," he says. "We were so taken by her words and what she was doing for mankind that we decided to come back to Oceanside and help people who were in need," Kutler says. "It was just a little soup kitchen then but we pledged to serve dinner every night so that people on the streets could count on a hot meal." Kay hugged every single person who came through the gates.

"The first years of Brother Benno's we were struggling," Kutler says. "Then, one day Tony Robbins came by for a visit."

As a young boy, Robbins himself was moved when an anonymous stranger left a food basket for his down-and-out family. From then on he vowed to "pay it forward."

According to Kutler, "Tony asked us what we needed to feed the homeless for the entire year. It was a lot, but we told him the truth. Tony wrote us a check for the entire amount right there on the spot."

The little soup kitchen grew and by 1991, the Brother Benno Foundation moved to its present location, a 12,000 foot warehouse which they expanded to provide many services including a full dining room and kitchen, a children's reading room with tutoring, a computer lab, chapel, clothing room, restrooms with showers and offices.

Today, Brother Benno's provides people and families on a monthly basis with over 10,000 meals, nearly 1000 nights of lodging, 5000 articles of clothing, hundreds of loads of laundry, haircuts, showers, bus passes, blankets, ID vouchers and approximately 2700 food packs. "And" he adds, "about 14,000 hugs."

Statistics provided by San Diego's "Stand Up For Kids" organization, indicate that for every classroom in America of 35 kids, seven of them will be on the streets and homeless by the time they're 18. "Most of those kids come from abusive home situations," according to Teri Burg, director of San Diego branch of "Stand Up for Kids." "These kids sleep under park benches, behind dumpsters, in deserted buildings or houses and for many, they depend on organizations like ours to stay alive. We are very grateful to the Anthony Robbins Foundation," Burg adds.

This season, it has been announced by Michelle Champine, foundation manager, that the Anthony Robbins Foundation has joined forces with a number of not-for-profit organizations including "Stand Up For Kids," the YWCA's domestic violence division, San Diego Youth Services, the Alpha Project, Monarch School, and the Regional Task Force for the Homeless and, of course, Brother Benno's.

SOURCE: The Anthony Robbins Foundation
Contacts: Steve Jaffe, Jaffe & Co., Inc. (310) 275-7327, info@stevejaffepr.com;
Michelle Champine, Anthony Robbins Foundation (858) 444-3080