North Hills restaurant aims to help the homeless this November

For the month of November, STIR in North Hills will be donating a percentage of its proceeds to a local nonprofit.

Posted 3:30 p.m. Oct 28, 2020 — Updated 3:46 p.m. Oct 28, 2020

Kathy Hanrahan, Out

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RALEIGH, N.C. — For the month of November, STIR in North Hills will be donating a percentage of its proceeds to a local nonprofit.

The restaurant will be donating a percentage of its food sales to Oak City Cares, which helps people and families at risk of, or currently experiencing homelessness.

"What we're doing here in November is taking an opportunity to give back to our local community at what has been a difficult time for everyone," STIR general manager Chris Brett said on this week's Out and About Podcast.

Guests at STIR will also have the option to donate directly to Oak City Cares via information on their tables.

Oak City Cares is Wake County's first multi-services hub to connect people dealing with homelessness by connecting them with medical and housing assistance, counseling, job placement and other critical services.

STIR partnered with Oak City Cares last year when it opened its doors in Midtown.

“We are so grateful for our ongoing partnership with STIR and for their continued focus on providing much needed support in our community. Over the past six months we’ve seen an increased need in our community for our services and we know that the funds raised by STIR in November will help us assist our Wake County neighbors in need,” Oak City Cares Executive Director said.

STIR Raleigh is also helping its town through a charitable foundation set up by its owner Chattanooga-based hospitality group SquareOne Holding Company. In addition to each restaurant partnering with a local nonprofit, The SquareUp Foundation also gives support to team members who have suffered traumatic events.

"The root of the hospitality industry should be just that; a welcoming and generous environment that thrives on supporting others," SquareOne Holding CEO Allen Corey said. "SquareOne believes hospitality should extend far beyond our dining tables and into the communities in which we live. The SquareUp Foundation is doing just that."

SquareUp has a HOPE Fund (Helping Our People in Emergencies) that provides between $500 and $1,000 to help employees facing economic hardships like natural disasters, illness, injury or other emergencies.

"(The HOPE Fund) is fully funded by donations form our hourly team members at all of our restaurants that we operate. As we all commit to donating money from our paychecks or a direct deposit to this fund, it allows us to help any of our team members that experienced some sort of catastrophe in their lives," Brett said. "This was just started a few months ago, so right as we reopened and,we were fortunate here in Raleigh to be able to help one of our own team members right away who had a medical emergency."

Brett said one of the great parts of the HOPE Fund is that when it comes to dispersing funds a team of staff members and not management act as a committee to determine what amount should be donated.

"The team members, knowing that they are directly helping someone because they get to make that decision is a big deal," Brett said.

STIR located at 4242 Six Forks Road in Raleigh, across from the AC Hotel North Hills. It is open for in-person dining and take-out. STIR's hours are Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.