This Father’s Day Help Change the Lives of Children in Foster Care!

Dad might like a sporty new tie, but he’ll probably feel even better about helping a group of wonderful children on Father’s Day. That’s what Wendy’s first Father’s Day Frosty Weekend is all aboutgiving people another way to support the cause of foster care adoption and help the more than 114,000 U.S. children who are waiting for the love of forever families. During Father’s Day Weekend, June 16 and 17, Wendy’s will donate 50 cents from the sale of every Frosty product at participating restaurants to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The goal is to raise $1 million to support the work of the non-profit Foundation and its signature program: Wendy’s Wonderful Kids (WWK). This program is filling a critical gap by funding and supporting full-time adoption recruiters at local agencies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to match prospective parents with waiting foster care children. In three years, WWK has grown from seven pilot cities in April 2004, to 75 cities across North America with 87 adoption recruiters. “The Wendy’s system is very proud to be initiating this special event that helps support our Founder’s most passionate cause finding a permanent and loving home for every child” said Wendy”s Chief Executive Officer and President Kerrii Anderson, who serves on the board of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. “We hope families will bring dad to lunch at Wendy’s to enjoy a Frosty. It’s an easy way to celebrate Father’s Day while making a difference in the lives of others.” To date, nearly 2,000 children in foster care have been served by the growing WWK program. Of these children, more than half have had families identified for them through WWK. Most important, 125 children have had their adoptions finalized and now are experiencing the joys of having adoptive families. The success of WWK is due to the ongoing partnership between the Foundation, the Wendy’s system and local adoption partners. The Foundation grants funds to qualified adoption organizations, and holds the agencies accountable for achieving agreed-upon results. The Wendy’s system raises funds to pay the costs of the local WWK programs. “With all that’s been achieved, there are still thousands of children in foster care still waiting to be adopted. The average age of a waiting child in the U.S. is nearly nine years old, and they spend an average of five years in the foster care system. Imagine telling a young child they must wait five years to find a permanent family” said Rita Soronen, executive director of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. “We believe Wendy’s Wonderful Kids is a realistic solution, and that the program will become even stronger with the support of Wendy’s customers during Father’s Day weekend.” Remember, 50-cents from every Wendy’s Frosty product purchase this coming weekend will help raise one million dollars for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. For more information on the foundation go to www.davethomasfoundation.org More about Rita L. Soronen, Executive Director; Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption: For more than 25 years, Rita Soronen has worked on behalf of abused, neglected and vulnerable children. Ms. Soronen has provided leadership for local, state and national efforts working to improve the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, while striving to assure safe, nurturing and permanent homes for North America’s children. As Executive Director of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Ms. Soronen makes tenacious and indefatigable efforts to find loving adoptive families for each of the 140,000 waiting children in the United States and Canada’s foster care systems. In her role, Ms. Soronen works with the North American Wendy’s system of more than 6,000 franchisees and company stores, national adoption partners, corporations, and the general public to accomplish the mission. The Foundation, created by Dave Thomas, an adopted child and founder of Wendy’s, is the national voice for children in foster care waiting for adoptive homes, and provides resources to organizations that effectively and efficiently move children from foster care into permanent families. Over the past 15 years, the Foundation has raised awareness about foster care adoption among millions of people, provided support and resources to tens of thousands of families, and helped finalize thousands of adoptions. As the only foundation dedicated exclusively to foster care adoption, it is driven by Dave’s simple value: Do what’s best for the child. Under Ms. Soronen’s leadership, the Foundation launched Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, a direct-service signature program that combines the fundraising of Wendy’s and its customers; aggressive grants management of the Foundation and the talent of experienced adoption recruiters to move children from foster care into permanent, loving adoptive homes. In just two short years, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids has grown from seven to 87 sites and from seven states to all 50, the District of Columbia and Canada. Immediately prior to joining the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Ms. Soronen served as the Executive Director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Franklin County, a partner in the national network of more than 900 CASA programs, and one of the 20 largest urban programs in the nation. During that time, she also served for five years as the President of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio CASA/GAL Association. During her tenure with CASA, she was instrumental in the passage of specialty license plate legislation benefiting CASA programs throughout Ohio, as well as the design and implementation of model program standards assuring consistent application of effective advocacy for children involved in court proceedings at the local and state levels. Ms. Soronen serves on the Board of Trustees of the National CASA Association, the Board of Directors of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and is a fellow for the Jefferson Fellowship for Executive Leadership. Ms. Soronen is a recipient of the National CASA Association Kappa Alpha Theta Program Director of the Year Award, the Ohio CASA/GAL Association Statewide Leadership Award, and the Angels in Adoption Award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption, resulting from a nomination by Congresswoman Deborah Pryce. A graduate of the University of Louisville, Ms. Soronen resides in Columbus, Ohio, and has two wonderful daughters. More about Isaac Simpson: Son: C.J. (age 13) Working as a social worker in Franklin County, Isaac Simpson knew all too well the need for positive mentors and family support for youth in foster care, especially African American teenage boys. As a caseworker with limited time to devote to the children on his caseload, Isaac decided that he wanted to do more. He became a foster parent one of very few single, male foster parents in Ohio. I knew this is how I could really change a child’s life, says Isaac, who also spent time in temporary placements as a child. I feel like I was born to be a foster parent. Over the past three years, Isaac has welcomed 10 children into his home. “I wish I could adopt all of them” admits Isaac. One child, however, stood out. At 12 years old, C.J. was the youngest child to come into Isaac’s home. He knew right away that there was something special about this boy. When C.J. became available for adoption the first of Isaac’s foster children to have his parent’s rights terminated Isaac knew what he had to do. “I knew he was for me. I knew we were supposed to be a family” says Isaac. Thanks to supportive caseworkers at Franklin County Children Services, C.J.’s adoption process went very smoothly, and the adoption was finalized on June 12, 2006. Tragically, nearly a week after the adoption ceremony, Isaac was shot during an attempted robbery. The bullet nicked a kidney, ripped through his pancreas and liver, and shattered his spleen. Isaac’s new son sto
od by his father while he recovered. “When I left the hospital, C.J. was there to care for me. He brought me all of my medicine. He was strong” says Isaac. Today, C.J. is a star student. He is on the honor roll, a member of the band and football team, and recently earned a United States Achievement Award for his academic achievements. More about The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption: The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is a non-profit 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to dramatically increasing the adoptions of the more than 140,000 children in North America’s foster care systems ready to be adopted. Created by Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas who was adopted as a child, the Foundation leads programs such as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, which puts adoption recruiters in all 50 states and Canada to find permanent, loving families for children in the foster care system, and Adoption-Friendly Workplace, which encourages employers to offer adoption benefits to their employees. The Foundation also works with adoption advocates and officials to streamline the adoption process and make adoption more affordable for families. As the only Foundation dedicated exclusively to foster care adoption, we are driven by Dave’s simple value: Do what’s best for the child. To learn more about the Foundation’s work, please visit www.DaveThomasFoundationforAdoption.org Wendy’s International Inc. Overview Wendy’s International Inc. (NYSE:WEN) is one of the world’s most successful restaurant operating and franchising companies, with more than 6,300 Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers restaurants in North America and more than 300 international Wendy’s restaurants. More information about the Company is available at www.wendys-invest.com