Every Hotel RL Joins The CITYPAK Project to Deliver Care Packages to Homeless During Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

SPOKANE, Wash., Nov. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- During National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (Nov.12-20), Hotel RL properties along with not-for-profit organization The CITYPAK Project are delivering CITYPAK's uniquely designed backpacks filled with essentials for the homeless. Tonight, and every night in the United States, more than 600,000 individuals will sleep on the street. Hotel RL is leading the lodging and hospitality industry in an effort to curb this alarming statistic.

Throughout the year, Hotel RL properties across the country have set up an ongoing homelessness awareness campaign, providing a way for guests and the local community to get involved. With their flagship philanthropic program, Project Wake Up Call, each hotel partners with a local charity to help improve conditions for those affected by homelessness. The program offers guests a complimentary night stay at the Hotel RL location of their choice with a donation of $100 or more.

"We are proud that Project Wake Up Call has continued to provide our guests, staff and the greater neighborhood a resource to get involved in the local communities that we serve," said President and Chief Executive Officer of RLHC, Greg Mount, "We can't just look at a problem and say it's too big to solve. But if we pull our resources together, we can actually have a measurable impact."

With the help of The CITYPAK Project, Hotel RL properties will provide safe, convenient and versatile backpacks filled with basic amenities that the homeless community often goes without. The following Hotel RL affiliated charity organizations will receive the CITYPAKs:

• Hotel RL Washington D.C.: Unity Health Care whose mission is to promote healthier communities through compassion and comprehensive health and human services, regardless of the patient's ability to pay.
• Hotel RL Olympia: Sidewalk, a non-profit that provides rapid rehousing to those who are homeless in Thurston County, Washington.
• Hotel RL Spokane at the Park: Blessings Under the Bridge, an upscale server for the homeless that has served over 100,000 meals under an I-90 overpass in Spokane since 2007.
• Hotel RL Salt Lake City: The Road Home, a private non-profit social services agency that assists individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
• Hotel RL Baltimore: Health Care for the Homeless, an agency that provides individuals and families with quality, integrated health care and promoting access to affordable housing and sustainable income through direct service, advocacy, and community engagement.

"We are thrilled to partner with RLHC and Hotel RL to fortify our common commitment to help some of our most vulnerable neighbors," said CITYPAK founder, Ron Kaplan. "We echo the sentiments of Hotel RL that, together, we can chip away at this urgent issue that affects every city in America."

For more information on Project Wake Up Call and how to get involved, please visit www.projectwakeupcall.com.

About RLHC
Red Lion Hotels Corporation RLH, established in 1959, is an international hospitality company primarily engaged in the franchising, management and ownership of upscale, midscale and economy hotels under the Hotel RL, Red Lion Hotels, Red Lion Inn & Suites, GuestHouse, Settle Inn, Vantage Hotels, Americas Best Value Inn, Canadas Best Value Inn, Lexington by Vantage, America's Best Inns and Suites; Country Hearth Inns; Jameson Inns; Signature Inn and 3 Palms Hotels and Resorts brands. The company also owns and operates an entertainment and event ticket distribution business under the brand name TicketsWest. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.rlhco.com.

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About The CITYPAK Project
The CITYPAK Project is a not-for-profit philanthropic organization that works to provide custom designed backpacks to homeless persons in need. Working with exclusive manufacturing partner High Sierra, The CITYPAK Project has distributed over 35,000 PAKs to homeless throughout the United States, including Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco Bay Area, CA; Boston, MA; St. Louis, MO; Austin, Texas; New Orleans, LA; Portland, OR; Madison, WI; and many others. Founded by Chicago businessman and philanthropist Ron Kaplan in 2012, The CITYPAK Project provides a safe, convenient and versatile backpack uniquely designed to meet the constantly changing needs of the homeless.  Inspired by the simple desire to create something that would make life on the streets of Chicago a little easier, Kaplan shared his idea with the design team at the international adventure travel gear manufacturer High Sierra. Today, with the help of High Sierra and a growing list of corporate and individual donors and a variety of local and regional non-profit partners, The CITYPAK Project distributes CITYPAKs in growing list of cities across the U.S. The ongoing goal: to design and provide a useful, high quality backpack for the homeless.

The CITYPAK Project is a program of the Selma Breskin Kaplan Foundation, an Illinois not-for-profit corporation qualified as a tax-exempt private foundation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.  All contributions to The CITYPAK Project of the Selma Breskin Kaplan Foundation are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. www.citypak.org