Dominos dishes up $10,000 donation to KidsCan

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Mon, 25 Jul 2011 10:30a.m.

Dominos is taking advantage of Hell's bad news

Dominos is taking advantage of Hell's bad news

By Dan Satherley

Dominos has stepped in to fill a $10,000 hole in the budget of children's charity KidsCan, left after rival pizza outlet Hell reneged on its Telethon pledge.

At the Big Night In telethon in 2009, Hell had agreed to pay the sum to charity KidsCan in exchange for product placement at the event's Viaduct base.

But after reports that not much of the money raised was actually going to needy children, company boss Warren Powell changed his mind, writing in an email to staff: "So how does this work? We gave away pizza by the dozen to these dorks and raised good [sic] knows how much; now am I expected to give them a chq in return for nothing?"

The reports turned out to be false, an audit showing KidsCan had used the almost $2 million in donations it received effectively.

Still Hell refused to pay up, and now Dominos has jumped at the chance to help out, general manager Josh Kilimnik calling it "the right thing to do".

“As a company that does what it can for the New Zealand community it was just something I felt strongly about," says Mr Kilimnik. "I want to see all kids get access to the basics such as food and clothing and KidsCan do a fantastic job in helping to make that happen."

KidsCan says $10,000 will buy meals, shoes, socks, a raincoat and a beanie for 56 children for a year.

“I am blown away," says KidsCan CEO Julie Helson.

“Kidscan provides the basics that New Zealand children living in poverty are missing out on to help ensure they can be more engaged in their education and reach their full potential."

This morning Hell left a message on its Facebook page, saying there was "more to the story than meets the eye".

"Thanks for your support (some of you)," the message stated.

"Given HELL's record at giving to charity and sponsorship, there is more to this story that meets the eye. We'd ask you to reserve judgement until we're able to get the HELL side of the story into the public arena. Fair?"

KidsCan chose not to pursue Hell through the courts, as it would have cost more than the $10,000 they were owed.

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Comments

26 Jul 2011 09:45a.m.

johnboy wrote:

I am a outsider in this but I am telling you that Helson Knows more about the truth than is be told.also ex very disgruntled employee is behind al of this dam nonsense and all this is contrived. (Matt you are an ass) Grow up

25 Jul 2011 05:46p.m.

Mart wrote:

At least they donated something, they didn't have to... we all know they're a pretty stingey franchise but in the end the didn't have to, they weren't asked to, they just did and it's more than any of you commenters would donate in your life. You people are just greedy, they could have just left the kids $10,000 short instead of donating.

25 Jul 2011 12:53p.m.

Mike M wrote:

k - that's $178.57 per child. If you could do close to that for $178.57 you'd probably be intelligent enough to work it out too. As for Hell, it's become overpriced rubbish since Powell, Davies and McMullin bought it back from TPF. To make comments like this, and worse to let them go public; use Jesus in a very questionable way in your advertising, and let customer information get hacked and say publicly that because the data was old it was "of no value to anyone", it's surprising these idiots are still in business. Maybe they could just merge with their budget brand and call it "Hell Spawn" - I think that would sum it all up nicely. And full credit to Dominos - my next Pizza purchase will be from you just on the basis of this alone. Well done.

25 Jul 2011 12:44p.m.

J wrote:

It's 49 cents per kid per day for 1 year.

25 Jul 2011 12:21p.m.

Nina O'Fyfe wrote:

Tell us more about the distribution of the funding and KidsCan administration costs ... will this gesture do anything to make Dominos pizza taste any better?

25 Jul 2011 11:24a.m.

Kevin wrote:

All this negative press for Hell Pizza points in one direction, and where there's smoke there's fire. Whatever cockamamie explanation given for this will be nothing but smoke in mirrors, the directors of this company care for little more than their own wallets and egos and are slowly being exposed for the shysters they are. Perhaps its time for them to move on so some heart and integrity can be restored to this brand?

25 Jul 2011 11:10a.m.

k wrote:

seriously that much money for only 56 kids?