Subway effort expected to raise $1 million plus

Franchisees to donate percentage of Oct. 23 U.S. sales to Red Cross

MILFORD, Conn. -- The SUBWAY restaurant chain, the world's largest submarine sandwich franchise, and its franchisees will donate the equivalent of 5 percent of October 23, 2005 sales from all of their 18,000-plus U.S. restaurants to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to aid emergency needs of Hurricane Katrina and Rita survivors. The effort is expected to raise more than $1 million.

"Hurricane Katrina is one of the most powerful natural disasters our country has ever seen and the healing has only just begun," said Tom Seddon, President and CEO of the SUBWAY Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust (SFAFT).

"On behalf of our franchisees, SUBWAY is pleased to assist the Red Cross with a chain-wide donation to disaster relief. Every purchase made in every Subway restaurant in America on October 23rd will result in a contribution to this critical relief effort."

SUBWAY Restaurants will support its chain-wide initiative with television and radio announcements, and with window signs in each of its U.S. restaurants. In addition, there will be exposure for the fundraiser during television coverage of the October 23rd SUBWAY 500 NASCAR race in Martinsville, VA, along with a presence at the track consisting of public address announcements, billboard announcements, and an American Red Cross logo on the hood of the No. 16 Ford Taurus driven by Greg Biffle.

The American Red Cross estimates that the families needing assistance from Hurricane Katrina alone are 15 times the number from all four hurricanes last year. The total cost for Katrina relief is estimated at more than $2 billion, and the Red Cross is counting on the American people and corporations to help their neighbors in need.