"It's a great and caring way to celebrate the spring season," said Thomas Bertrand, MPH, AIDS Project RI's executive director. "Step out on a Thursday night for dinner with friends and family, help people living with HIV and AIDS, and help Rhode Island achieve zero transmission of HIV." A portion of patrons' bills is donated to AIDS Project RI by participating restaurants.
In 2014, Dining Out for Life is Thursday, April 24. Tom and his team are currently recruiting restaurants to sign on to take part.
As of early February, nearly 20 restaurants were already slated to participate. In Providence: Blaze Eastside, CAV, Gracie's, Hemenway's, India, Kitchen Bar, Los Andes, New Rivers, Parkside, Pizzico, 3 Sisters, The Red Fez, RiRa Irish Pub and Restaurant, and Rue De L'Espoir. In Pawtucket, Hose Company #6 and Rasoi. In Woonsocket, the Burrito Company. "We're hoping to get at least 30 restaurants from cities and towns across the state to participate," he said.
For the first time ever he's looking for volunteers to help promote the event through social media. "Our job is to fill the tables at participating restaurants on April 24th. We want to have a team to help us raise awareness via social media of the list of restaurants participating," he said. "We want each of our restaurants to have every seat filled on that day."
Restaurants or social media volunteers should contact Amy Stein, the event's director, at 401-559-7896 or amy@aidsprojectri.org.
For more than 30 years, AIDS Project RI has provided HIV/AIDS prevention and education services, as well as assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS Project RI is a division of Family Service of RI.
More information is available at www.aidsprojectri.org.
