Good food, great cause

Sonoma Valley restaurants Maya and Saddles Steak House are among the 69 county restaurants participating in the Dec. 2 fundraiser “Dining Out for Life.”

Participating restaurants will donate 25 or 50 percent of Thursday sales to Food For Thought — Sonoma County AIDS Food Bank. For a complete list of county participants see diningoutforlife.com/sonomacounty.

“In one day we hope to raise over $90,000,” says Food For Thought Executive Director Ron Karp. “Five-thousand people went out to dinner in support of our agency last year. This year promises to be even bigger, and we’re very excited.”

Founded in 1988, Food For Thought is a non-profit grassroots agency dedicated to meeting the nutritional needs of people affected by HIV/AIDS in Sonoma County. More than 600 volunteers provide free services to 650 people, including delivering food and nutritional supplements to the homebound.

Dining Out for Life, in its ninth year locally, began over 20 years ago in Philadelphia to raise money for an AIDS service organization, while honoring the many people who worked in the food and beverage industry that died of AIDS early in the epidemic.

The program has grown and is successful in 60 other cities in the United States and Canada. Dining Out For Life raises more than $3 million a year for HIV/AIDS charities.