ORLANDO, Fla. (May 22, 2007) – Known for its mouth-numbing hot sauces and community initiatives, Tijuana Flats today presented Soldiers’ Angels with a $35,000 donation collected from in-store and online sales of the restaurant’s “Smack My Ass & Call me Santa!” holiday hotsauce during the 2006 holiday season (from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, 2006). The Tijuana Flats Just in Queso Fund® donation will support the Soldiers’ Angels commitment to continually provide aide and comfort to deployed soldiers and their families by sending care packages and messages of hope.“We chose Soldiers’ Angels as last year’s holiday charity as a way to support our troops,” said Camp Fitch, Tijuana Flats president and chief executive officer. “We had been searching for away to help out our armed forces for a long time, and our partnership with Soldiers’ Angels granted us the opportunity. We’re extremely proud to serve our nation’s heroes.”

With 100 percent of the donation serving to assist wounded troops, the majority of the Just in Queso funds will support the Soldiers’ Angels “Project Valour-IT” program, which provides voice-controlled software and laptop computers to wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines recovering from hand and arm injuries or amputations at major military medical centers.

The voice-operated laptops allow wounded heroes to send and receive messages from friendsand loved ones, “surf the Net” and communicate with buddies still in the field without having topress a key or move a mouse.

Another of Soldiers’ Angels programs that will benefit from the Tijuana Flats donation is the First Response Backpack initiative, which was developed to provide comfort to wounded heroes. The First Response Backpack is a backpack stuffed with personal items, which are necessary to the physical comfort of the soldiers while recovering at an off-site hospital. A typical First Response Backpack contains toiletries, articles of clothing and undergarments to provide the soldier some relief from the airy hospital gowns and a phone card to call their family and loved ones whilethey recover.

Also, each Backpack includes a blanket, dubbed a "Blanket of Hope," hand made by Soldiers' Angels volunteers and accompanied by a note of well wishes for each soldier.

Soldiers' Angels is an all volunteer run organization that started in June 2003. Their mission is to provide aide and comfort to any of the armed forces and their families. By sharing a common vision of service, the volunteers of Soldiers' Angels send care packages and messages of hope to deployed soldiers and their loved ones at home. This initiative has grown to be an Internet community with thousands of people worldwide and the addition of new members every day. For more information about Soldiers’ Angels, visit http://www.soldiersangels.org/.

Tijuana Flats’ Just In Queso Fund® was designed to help people in the restaurants’ communities build a better tomorrow by providing resources in times of need and by making donations to other human service programs that help families in the communities the restaurantservices.

About Tijuana Flats

Established in 1995 in Winter Park, Fla., Tijuana Flats is a unique, fast-casual Tex-Mex dining experience featuring superior guest service and fresh, made-to-order food. Tijuana Flats has locations in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The restaurants are typically found in high-traffic areas and average 2,200 square feet. Known worldwide for their own brand of hot sauces, Tijuana Flats Hot Foods Inc., a separate company, provides the restaurants’ specialty products, hot sauces and condiments, including one of the hottest sauces in the world, Smack My Ass and Call Me Sally…“The Slap Heard Around theWorld.” Another of the company’s famous hot sauces, the mango-flavored “Just in Queso” sauce, supports the Just in Queso Fund®, a year-round, not-for-profit reserve to aid people and programs in their time of need. Tijuana Flats offers gift packages for sale both in its restaurantsand at http://www.tijuanaflats.com/.

Labels: Soldiers' Angels, Supporting the troops