KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Members of the Western Michigan football team and athletic director Kathy Beauregard took time on Thursday and Friday to participate in the Little Caesars Love Kitchen while in Kalamazoo.

Helping to make a difference in the community, the Little Caesars Love Kitchen will provide fresh pizza meals for more than 1,000 people in need over two days beginning December 15, in Kalamazoo.  The Little Caesars Love Kitchen will be traveling to the hometown of Western Michigan University in conjunction with their football team's upcoming appearance in the nationally televised Little Caesars Pizza Bowl on Tuesday, December 27, in Detroit.

"We are looking forward to the exciting match-up between the Western Michigan Broncos and the Purdue Boilermakers in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl," said Kelly Hogarth, local Little Caesars franchisee in Kalamazoo, Mich. "Little Caesars Pizza has a long history of giving back, and providing free pizza to area shelters. Serving those in need is a fitting way to recognize the Broncos' appearance in the bowl game."

Established in 1985, the Little Caesars Love Kitchen is a big-rig pizza kitchen on wheels. It travels across the continental United States and Canada meeting the needs of the hungry, the homeless and disaster victims. It has fed more than two million people in 48 states and four Canadian provinces.

Local Little Caesars franchise owners and company regional offices donate all food and labor costs for the Love Kitchen servings.  An estimated 50,000 Little Caesars franchise owners and employees have volunteered their time over the years to support the program in their local communities.               

"It's important to Little Caesars that we support our local communities in various ways, and sending the Little Caesars Love Kitchen to area shelters for feedings is one way we can do that," said David Scrivano, Little Caesars Pizza President & CEO, and board member for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. "We're proud to be working with Kelly and her team to provide hot pizza meals to those in need in Kalamazoo."

About The Little Caesars Love Kitchen

The Little Caesars Love Kitchen was established in 1985 to help make a difference in communities across the country by providing a hot meal to those who otherwise may not have one. It has also responded to disasters such as the recent wildfires in Texas, the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast Area in 2005 and 2008, the site of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, and the 1995 Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City.

About Little Caesars Pizza

Little Caesars Pizza founders Michael and Marian Ilitch opened their first restaurant in Garden City, Michigan in 1959. Little Caesars added more stores in the world in 2010 than any other pizza chain and today is the largest carry-out chain internationally with restaurants on four continents. Little Caesars is growing in prime markets across the country, and is offering strong franchisee candidates an opportunity for independence with a proven system. For the fourth year in a row, Little Caesars was named "Best Value in America"* of all quick-serve restaurant chains. In addition, Little Caesars offers strong brand awareness with one of the most recognized and appealing characters in the country, Little Caesar.

In addition to Little Caesars Pizza, Michael and Marian Ilitch's companies in the food, sports and entertainment industries include: the Detroit Red Wings, Olympia Entertainment, Olympia Development, Blue Line Foodservice Distribution, Champion Foods, Ilitch Holdings, Inc., Uptown Entertainment, Little Caesars Pizza Kit Fundraising Program, and a variety of venues within these entities. Michael Ilitch owns the Detroit Tigers. Marian Ilitch owns MotorCity Casino Hotel.