AHG Cares

Committed to Community

Ascend Hospitality Group (AHG) invests wholly in both our team members and our guests to take service to the next level, and ultimately commits to elevating the communities we serve.

Based on our core values of YOU MATTER, TEAM MATTERS, SERVICE MATTERS,
AHG has launched AHG Cares, our philanthropic arm of the company. Through AHG Cares, we are able to hone our philanthropic efforts through various programs and collaborations with a positive community impact.

Follow our socials to see what we are up to!

To submit a donation inquiry, please click here.

The Bellevue NYE Night Market

The third annual Bellevue New Year’s Eve Night Market returns to ring in 2025 with a vibrant makers market of over 50 craft, food, and beverage vendors on Tuesday, December 31 from 3-9pm!

Presented by AHG Cares with support from Amazon, the Bellevue NYE Night Market spotlights local artists and culture with an expanded footprint and offering from its inaugural year in 2022, bringing in more than 6,000 attendees in the second year, and now moving on to Main Street in downtown Bellevue with even more offerings! Working closely with the City of Bellevue and Visit Bellevue, AHG Cares has also partnered with event producer Workshop Events to showcase the diverse array of art, crafts, and goods.

The night market is held on Main Street and is FREE to the public, with highlights of the festive evening including 50+ local craft vendors, food trucks, live music, a seasonal photo opp, free rides around town by Visit Bellevue’s BellHop, complimentary cocoa, cookies, and dog treats, PLUS a beer and wine garden with Browne Family Cellars, presented by and benefiting the Bellevue LifeSpring.

AHG Has Your Back

AHG Has Your Back is an annual back-to-school backpack program created by Ascend Hospitality Group. The program provides underserved children with a one-of-a-kind, custom-designed backpack experience for the back-to-school season. Each year, AHG collaborates with a celebrity partner to create an unforgettable program for students whom need it the most.

For the inaugural year of AHG Has Your Back, AHG partnered with former Seahawk and Super Bowl champion Cliff Avril and the Cliff Avril Family Foundation. Through the program, 250 students received a custom backpack designed by Avril himself, including essential school supplies provided by AHG and program sponsor Amazon, as well as USDA-approved grocery shopping lists and nutritional guides, healthy recipes, and food education activity sheets, plus a $25 gift card to shop at any Amazon Fresh grocery store location. Watch the “making of” the 2021 AHG Has Your Back backpack and learn more here.

For 2022, AHG and Amazon partnered with international popstar Ciara and her Why Not You Foundation to double the numbers, benefitting 500 students in need with Dare to Roam backpacks and a block party at the Amazon Fresh store in Bellevue, Washington, all to ring in the new school year In addition to hosting the backpack experience for Ciara’s Why Not You Academy students, AHG Has Your Back also partnered with six other Seattle-area nonprofits focused on providing historically marginalized youth with opportunity, with the intent to send these students back to school with confidence.

In 2023, AHG and Amazon recruited a team of “Seattle Sports Legends” — from Bobby Wagner of the Seahawks to Chance Fry from the Sounders and mascot Doppler of the Seattle Storm — to host a parking lot party once again at the Amazon Fresh store, benefiting six Seattle-area nonprofits and getting packs on the backs of 700 students for the school year.

In 2024, AHG teamed up again with Amazon and Amazon Fresh to provide fully stocked backpacks to 1,000 local students in need! Students from four nonprofits had an afternoon of fun with their families at an “End of Summer Block Party,” where they were given the opportunity to “dream big” by personalizing their pack with everything from keychains and patches to personalized airbrush art by Over the Line Art, play carnival games, dance to beats by DJ Tazz Enrico of the Residency, enjoy snacks from Amazon Fresh, and savor a complimentary lunch from Famous Dave’s BBQ.

31 Lives

The inaugural initiative for AHG Cares was 31 Lives, Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi’s program designed to fund scholarships and internships for aspiring culinarians, as well as, contribute professional expertise and tools (pro-bono) to elevate culinary education in the Puget Sound. 

Since launching on 5/31/18 at 5:31pm on the 31st floor of Lincoln South Tower, the 31 Lives program used proceeds from the first 31 reservations of Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi to kick-off funding for the program, and has evolved over the years to focus on providing opportunities for high school students and young adults in the restaurant industry. 

31 Lives interns learn the restaurant business from the inside out, from menu planning and prep work to understanding the operations, such as managing guest flow from front to back of house, supply chain communications, and more.

AHG Cares Community Cocktail

In the AHG Cares Community Cocktail program, AHG restaurants align with local nonprofit beneficiaries and create a specific cocktail to feature on the menu in which $1 from each sold is donated to that nonprofit.  

Dating back to 2020 with Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi, the Community Cocktail program is now a staple at all of our restaurants, with each store location giving back to a hyper-local, education-based nonprofit in their community.

Current beneficiaries include:

Washington Wild (Stanford’s, Northgate)

Strike HOPE (Stanford’s, Clackamas)

Washington County Kids (Stanford’s, Tanasbourne)

Backpack Brigade (Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi)

AHG x Big Table

At Ascend Hospitality Group, feeding guests in our restaurants goes beyond nourishment — we strive to nourish and feed the community on a larger scale. Prior to the onset of COVID-19, AHG was a restaurant partner of Big Table, a nonprofit that cares for the restaurant and hospitality industry workers by building community and caring for those in crisis or transition, regularly donating to the organization that gives back to our own industry. When restaurants closed for service in the height of the pandemic, Ascend Prime Steak & Sushi donated all tips from to-go meals to Big Table, contributing over $20,000 to the cause.

AHG continues its partnership with Big Table, donating restaurant experiences for auctions to featuring cocktails on the menus in which proceeds go directly to the organization. Learn more about Big Table, its restaurant partners and the lives they are impacting in this moving video here.

Rainier Athletes’ PlayItForward: In the Sky

PlayItForward: In the Sky is Rainier Athletes’ inaugural celebration of community “PlayMakers,” local leaders who have paved the way to increase opportunity and connection for marginalized youth and their families.

A Bellevue-based nonprofit, Rainier Athletes believes that opportunity requires the right support in your corner. The organization has spent the last 10 years building a mentorship movement that expands access to opportunity, with long-term, one-on-one supportive relationships for youth that have been historically left out and underestimated.

Their mission is made possible by advocates like Ascend Hospitality Group and CEO/President Elaina M. Morris, which is why AHG has been selected as the 2022 Corporate PlayMaker!

The Famous Way

Throughout AHG’s owned and operated franchise of Famous Dave’s BBQ, the company supports various organizations and groups throughout Washington and Utah where the stores are located.

FOR THE KIDS: Each year, Famous Dave’s Utah locations donate $1 from every children’s meal sold to Utah’s For the Kids program, an organization that fights childhood hunger. In the last 12 months, these two locations have donated $16,000 to the program.

COVID RELIEF 2020-21: Famous Dave’s developed a meal matching program that donated over 1,000 meals to first responders and hospitals in Washington and Oregon.

BOGO HOLIDAY TURKEYS: Through a Buy One, Get One promotion during the holiday season, Famous Dave’s donates one turkey to various food banks throughout Washington and Utah for every turkey or turkey family meal ordered.

MONTHLY DONATIONS: Each Famous Dave’s store donates 100 meals each month to various local organizations.