Dining Out for Life tomorrow benefits Aliveness Project

A fine excuse to dine out - it's for charity!

​Expect to find a friendly crew handing out cherry red stickers proudly declaring "I Ate" at local eateries this Thursday.  April 28th is the Twin Cities annual Dining Out for Life event in which local restaurants pledge a portion of their proceeds to AIDS awareness and support organizations.  Locally, the event benefits the Aliveness Project, providing self-empowerment and services for persons living with HIV/AIDS.

To find out more about the event, the benefits and the Aliveness Project, we contacted executive director Joe Larson and he kindly answered a couple of our questions.

 

How many years have you been doing this event?
This is our 17^th year.

How many restaurants are participating?
167 restaurants throughout the Twin Cities, Duluth and Rochester.

How does the  Aliveness project benefit from the event?
All the proceeds support services offered support The Aliveness Project's services people living with HIV/AIDS. Last year, The Aliveness Project served 1,583 HIV+ individuals--which is one out of four Minnesotans affected by HIV/AIDS.

Any new restaurants participating this year that you're particularly excited about?
Blackbird is back after their building burned last year. Bamboo in Maplewood and we are excited to have more suburban locations [including] Sawatdee & Zushiya in Maple Grove. We also have our long-timers like Joe's Garage and Birchwood Café--we are very proud of the  work they do!

Aliveness is moving to a new home soon, how is that going?
We hope to move to our new building by the end of this year. We are still raising funds through our Positive Impact Capital Campaign for the renovation of the building.

For a full list of participating restaurants visit the Aliveness.org website