Posts Tagged ‘Food and Friends’
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Image: Dining Out For Life
This year I have decided to be a Restaurant Ambassador for Dining Out For Life, a national event that raises money to benefit patients with life challenging illnesses.
Dining Out For Life will kick off in the Washington, DC area on Thursday, March 11th. 147 restaurants around DC, Virginia, and Maryland will be participating. Almost 40 restaurants will be participating in Northern Virginia. Reservations are recommended to reduce the wait time.
In the DC area, Dining Out For Life partners with Food & Friends, an organization that provides nutritious meals to individuals battling HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life threatening illnesses.
On March 11, all food and beverage sales at participating restaurants will benefit Food & Friends. 25-110% of your bill will be donated to this great organization. All you have to do is dine out!
Three restaurants—Annie’s Paramount Steak House, Posto, and Tosca—are donating 100% of their sales. Freddie’s Beach Bar is donating 110% of its sales!
Any donation of $35 or more will be matched dollar for dollar by the Food & Friends’ Board of Directors. $35 will provide an individual with 1.5 to 2 days worth of meals; that’s almost 6 meals!!!
Stacey England, Special Events Manager of Food & Friends, hopes people, “Get together with friends and do something great for a local non-profit. It’s an amazing event and just by eating you’re helping out.” She encourages people to volunteer their time, in addition to dining out on March 11th.
So grab your friends, family or co-workers and enjoy some lunch or dinner while helping out your neighbors!
Image: Food and Friends
On a daily basis, Food & Friends prepares, packages and delivers more than 3,000 free meals to children and adults within Washington, DC and 14 counties in Maryland and Virginia. Eleven specialized meal plans are offered and tailored to different illnesses, treatment programs and client preferences.
This year marks Food & Friends’ 14th year participating in Dining Out for Life. Last year Dining Out For Life raised over $270,000 for Food & Friends; $85,000 was just from diner contributions. Each participating restaurant is in an area served by Food & Friends.
Food & Friends needs volunteers daily in the kitchen and especially for deliveries. Deliveries take place 10am to 3pm Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 202-269-6835.
My personal goal is to raise $500 for Food & Friends. If you would like to help me out, visit my Dining Out For Life page.
I will meet and greet guests and take donations at Open Kitchen and Vespucci, which was included in our Best New Restaurants roundup in 2007.
I will be at Open Kitchen (donating 35%) for lunch and Vespucci (donating 25%) for dinner.
Hope to see you on the 11th!
–Aisha Salazar
Food and Friends “Slice of Life” Campaign Kicks Off
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
Doing a good deed today is as easy as buying a pie.
The Food and Friends Slice of Life campaign kicks off this morning with a free pie-tasting at two locations in the District and heralds the start of their fundraiser which allows them to provide meals for those with life-challenging illnesses in the D.C. Metropolitan area.
The tastings will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. today, and tasters can sample several varieties of pies. Pie will be served by local celebs from the D.C. City Council as well as ABC 7 news anchors Cynne Simpson and Caroline Lyders at the J.W. Marriott location on 14th and Pennsylvania Ave.
Don’t fret if you reside or work outside the District and want to contribute. Northern Virginians can order pies online until Nov. 19 and pick them up on Nov. 24 on this side of the Potomac at various CVS locations including Arlington, Reston and Springfield.
The pie sale is in its third year, and last year the organization sold more than 3,000 pies. This year the nonprofit hopes to sell 6,000 pies to fund its coffers.
“It’s something anybody can do. Almost anyone can afford $25 for a pie,” says Food and Friends Communications Director Lisa Bandera.
Fundraisers such as the Slice of Life campaign allow Food and Friends to purchase their own food stuffs and thus provide healthier options than they would otherwise be able to if they relied solely on donations for the 2,800 client list they serve. “We want to make sure the meals meet the nutritional needs of our clients with life-challenging-illnesses,” she says.
The nonprofit delivers meals year-round, but Thanksgiving is a special opportunity to service clients in a way that lets them connect with members of their own community.
Food and Friends is able to “provide a slice of normalcy” that can be lacking in the lives of those who struggle with a illnesses such as AIDS or cancer, according to Bandera.
And living a “normal” life means having the ability to give back as well.
“So often you have to rely on others when you’re suffering from a life-challenging illness. We give each client enough food to feed four people so they can play host to others who have helped them out, and that’s a little measure of dignity you don’t usually get when you’re sick.”
–Amy Loeffler
