Hindu Press International
KAUAI, HAWAII, May 29, 2003: McDonald’s corporation is settling a lawsuit brought by vegetarians who were misled into believing McDonald’s french fries were vegetarian when, in fact, they were flavored with beef (see HPI, May 27). Out of the US$10 million, $250,000 was allotted to the Hindu Heritage Endowment (www.hheonline.org/) to endow 1,000 complimentary subscriptions to Hinduism Today magazine in the United States. The money will be put in a conservative investment fund and the proceeds used to pay for the subscriptions. The principle, however, remains intact forever. This is the same fund which holds the money paid for lifetime subscriptions to Hinduism Today. HHE was founded by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, also founder of Hinduism Today and Hindu Press International, as a permanent endowment for the benefit of various Hindu institutions and causes. The total endowment has recently passed $3.3 million. Thousands of Hindus have donated to it, and some have established their own special funds within it to endow projects of their choice to the benefit of Hindus and Hinduism. The terms of the settlement required, among other things, that the recipient organizations be dedicated to the values of Hindu, Sikh and other beef-less dietary rules, vegetarianism or Kosher dietary rules, or children’s nutrition or hunger relief. Hinduism Today qualified for its consistent and on-going advocacy of vegetarianism.