Local Restaurant Cooks Up Food, Support for Boys Town Children

When Amy Carter was trying to decide how to do something special for Boys Town’s kids for Christmas, she used her noodle. Actually, a whole lot of noodles. 

Carter is the general manager of a Noodles & Company restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska and knows something about children who need the kind of helping hand Boys Town can provide. As an infant, she was placed with a foster family. At age 4, the family adopted Carter, who was one of 17 children who received foster care in the family’s home.   

Carter said the idea behind the Boys Town Christmas dinner developed out of a discussion she had with Boys Town Development Officer Judy Safranek. “I called Judy to see if there was anything I could do,” Carter said. “That’s something near and dear to my heart.”  

Last year, she and seven members of her restaurant’s staff served up a donated holiday meal for more than 400 Boys Town youth who weren’t able to go home for Christmas. In all, Noodles & Company and its staff members – all volunteers – prepared $2,500 worth of food.  The dinner was such a resounding success, Carter and her restaurant have now made it an annual event. 

Carter said serving the meal is as much fun for her and her staff as eating it is for the kids.  

“It's great to see and talk to the kids,” she said. “We all have a lot of fun and look forward to doing it each year. I love doing it.”

Carter, who has lived in Omaha for seven years, said she knew a little about Boys Town and the organization’s work with children before the dinner. She said being able to do something special for the girls and boys in Boys Town’s care provided a unique experience for her, her staff and her restaurant.  

Carter said she and her restaurant aren’t limiting their support of Boys Town to just holiday dinners. She is currently working with Safranek on plans to hire some recent Boys Town graduates at the newly opened Noodles & Company restaurant she manages in Omaha.  

“It’s about giving back to the community,” she said. “It’s about helping people. That’s what Noodles and Company wants to portray and what I want my staff to be involved in.”