Viking Helps Re-Build New Orleans' Culinary Legacy May 8, 2006

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Commercial-style appliance producer Viking Range Corporation (Greenwood, Mississippi, U.S.) established the New Orleans Restaurant Renewal Fund (NORRF) to financially support the restoration of the city's culinary community.

The fund will accept donations online via the Web site www.norrf.org and will primarily serve to assist the New Orleans restaurant community by providing housing assistance for restaurant staff members. NORRF may also help subsidize the cost of staffing city restaurants during periods of low patronage as well as provide other forms of assistance as needed.

"It is critical for New Orleans and the culinary heritage of our country that the great restaurants of the city survive the volatile circumstances resulting from Katrina," said Charles Dunn, NORRF president, and director of wine programs for Viking. "The NORRF is working with a number of relatively small, renowned restaurants, which are essential to preserving the city's culinary traditions, in an effort to build a bridge to their stability. Currently, one of the most pressing needs of these restaurants is the return of their staffs, which has been delayed by their inability to find adequate and reasonably-priced housing."

Viking Sponsors Museum Exhibit
To commemorate the revival of the New Orleans restaurant community, Viking is a sponsor of an exhibit created by the Southern Food and Beverage Museum titled "Come Hell or High Water." The "Restaurant/Restorative" portion of the exhibit will be displayed in preview today, Monday, May 8, at the 16th Annual James Beard Foundation Awards Ceremony and Reception. The theme of this year's awards ceremony is "New Orleans: A Culinary Legacy."

About the New Orleans Restaurant Renewal Fund
The NORRF has been classified by the IRS as a non-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is based in Greenwood, Miss. at Viking corporate headquarters. Deloitte & Touche are outside auditors and administrative costs will be borne by Viking.

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