Dear @RuthsChris, Ruth's grandson here. I salute the decision you made yesterday to return the $20 million small business loan. But it's not enough.

My grandmother believed in the virtue of giving, in community, in helping those in need. In 1965, just months after she opened her first steakhouse, Hurricane Betsy ravaged New Orleans and coastal Louisiana. The story of her response is part of the restaurant's lore.

It's a story I grew up with, though she was too humble to tell it herself. With the power out, streets flooded, and no chance of reopening on the horizon, she cooked every bit of food stored away. Every single steak. She fed first responders, those in need, the hungriest.

This story can be found in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/02/business/02nocera.html

And on the website of your largest franchisee: https://ruthschris.net/about-us/ 

I urge you to do more. To give back like she did. To do better than what she was financially capable of back in 1968.

There's countless ways to give. If you would like suggestions, if you would like to be put in touch with people in her beloved hometown of New Orleans, where I live today, please reach out.

Sincerely, Ruth's grandson.