DINE OUT & RAISE AWARENESS

This Thursday – March 10th – Washington, DC will celebrate 15 years of Dining Out for Life. 145 Restaurants, 150 Volunteer Ambassadors and thousands of diners will join together to raise money for the clients of Food & Friends. Food & Friends provides daily, home-delivered, nutritious meals to children and adults in the region battling HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses. Since 1988, more than 13.5 million meals have been delivered to more than 20,000 individuals in need.

This year, Dining Out for Life, DC is proud to share March 10th with National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

This nationwide observance, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH), encourages individuals to take action in the fight against HIV/AIDS by helping organizations come together to offer support, encourage discussion, and teach women and girls about prevention of HIV, the importance of getting tested for HIV, and how to live with and manage HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS is a serious public health issue affecting nearly 280,000 women in the United States. While men account for most HIV/AIDS cases, the impact on women is growing. In addition, research shows that, when compared to men, women face gaps in access and care.

National Women and Girl’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is March 10th but OWH encourages you to take part in events in your city throughout the month. Here’s how you can help:

• DINE OUT TOMORROW: Find a Restaurant at www.foodandfriends.org/dol or text 30364 to DOFLDC

• Organize a screening event or health fair in your community.

· Promote NWGHAAD through your blog, Facebook or Twitter. Download a web banner at http://womenshealth.gov/nwghaad/activity-planning/web-print-graphics.cfm

· Send an E-card. Visit, http://womenshealth.gov/nwghaad/activity-planning/e-card.cfm

For more information on Dining Out for Life, DC, visit www.foodandfriends.org/dol or call (202) 269-6883. Also, learn more about upcoming Dining Out for Life events in your city by visit www.diningoutforlife.com.

For more information about National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, visit www.womenshealth.gov/nwghaad.

Our Pals at Food & Friends Celebrate 14 Years and Counting!

THIS THURSDAY, Dining Out for Life in Washington, DC, will celebrate its 14th year raising critical funds for the individuals battling HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses whom Food & Friends serves each day. Since 1997, the generosity and over-whelming support of the restaurant community has raised more than $2 million. Even more amazing, is that 14 years later more than 20 of the original restaurants still participate, each year, in Dining Out for Life.

Participating since 1997 are Annie’s Paramount Steak House (100%), Banana Café, Café Berlin, Café La Ruche, Café Luna & Skewers, Coppi’s Organic, Clarendon Grill, Dupont Italian Kitchen, Floriana, Grillfish, La Fourchette, La Tomate, Lauriol Plaza, Little Fountain Café, Mark’s Kitchen, Marshall’s Bar & Grille, Mr. Henry’s, Perry’s, Raku, Tabard Inn, U-topia Bar & Grill.

This extraordinary commitment from the restaurant community should come as no surprise. Food & Friends’ life-saving services were first made possible in 1988 when D.C. restaurants opened their kitchens and donated the food then delivered to those in the area dying from AIDS. Now, more than twenty years later, Food & Friends is proud and honored to continue partnering with the local restaurant community in the fight against life-challenging illnesses.

Dine Out in Washington, DC on Thursday, March 11th. Click HERE for a list of participating DC restaurants.

Join us on Facebook!

Hello Dining Out For Life Friends and Family!

As we get closer and closer to April 29th, many of you have asked how you can help promote and publicize Dining Out For Life. One simple way is to suggest DO4L to your friends on Facebook! It's effective. It’s easy. Here is how to do it:

• Go to the Dining Out For Life Page www.facebook.com/DineOut4Life

• On the column at the left side you will see the following:

• Suggest To My Friends <<< --- click on that.

• You then can click on your friends (sadly it has to be done one-by-one, so it can take a few minutes)... You can also opt to right a personal message, endorsing Dining Out For Life and our mission to battle HIV/AIDS, or and then send them all a mass message.

Your friends will then opt to join our fan page! This is immensely important, as their friends will see it, and so-on, and so-on, and so-on…It will increase our reach and all our fans!

With your help, we can make this year's event even more successful then last year!

For those of you living in the Washington DC area - remember, YOUR Dining Out For Life event is Thursday, March 11! And Canadians in Okanagan Region, you will be Dining OUt on March 25th!

And if you use Twitter, don't forget to follow us @DineOut4Life!

Thank you so much for your support - and with all of us working together, we can make a huge difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS!

The NEW Dining Out For Life PSA!!

Ted Allen, Pam Grier and Jose Garces are lookin' good while doin' good!

CHECK IT OUT:

And don't forget! Dining Out For Life begins in Washington DC on March 11th, followed shortly by Okanagan Region in Canada on March 25th! Make your reservations, eat a delicious meal, help save lives and have a great time!

Meet DC's Restaurant Ambassadors.

Restaurant Ambassadors are an important part of Dining Out For Life. They're your local friends and business owners, people you've seen around town or have heard of. They're the face of your local DOFL dining experience. And their number one job is helping you feel welcomed wherever you're dining, helping you have the best possible DOFL meal. They also help to work up donations to DOFL.

Washington DC starts off our 2010 Dining Out For Life year, with their event happening on Thursday, March 11th. DOFL is hosted by DC's local organization Food & Friends. Over 100 people are signed on to be Washington DC's Restaurant Ambassadors, the Top Restaurant Ambassadors being Laura Olle, Pete Deoudes, Stephanie Cooper, Rebecca Harrington and Andrea Sedlock.

You can find these particular folks at Black's Bar & Kitchen, Bangkok Garden and Spezie. And rest assured that wherever you dine on March 11th, you'll see a friendly Restaurant Ambassador welcoming you to Dining Out For Life 2010!

Black's Bar & Kitchen

Spezie Ristorante

*Photo by Scott Suchman.

Bangkok Garden

Gearing up for DOFL 2010

I dunno about you but we're stoked about Dining Out For Life, 2010. I'm pretty sure this will be the most successful year to date. We've got TONS of restaurants lined up in tons of cities across North America and I'm sure plenty of you folks out there are looking for a good way to celebrate the end of this extra-snowy Winter!

Time to get your DOFL on!

First up on our DOFL schedule is Washington DC, holding their event on March 11th. The local organization, Food & Friends, is hosting DOFL in our nation's fair capitol. Check out their RESTAURANT LIST and make your reservations! Looks like some great eats are being offered up. Get your pals together and shake off those pesky Winter blues with a great meal! And as a special incentive, a portion of your purchases goes towards HIV/AIDS research. Most restaurants are donating 25% (which is so generous!) and others are going above and beyond, raising their donation percentage to 35%, 50%, or in a few cases, 100-110%!!! WOW WOW WOW!

Then, on March 25th, we have Canada's Okanagan Region joining the fun! Their event is hosted by theLiving Positive Resource Center, who deliver support services to persons living with HIV/AIDS. Nice! You can check out their list of participating restaurants here. Again, most are doing the generous donation of 25%, but some of them are also doing 50%-75%! WOW! And as always, every bit helps, even if any restaurant in any location was doing 10%, it'd make a difference. And that's what DOFL is all about! Making a difference in a fun and easy (and delicious!) way! Get your friends together, get your families together and celebrate the beginning of Spring! Celebrate life and making positive changes! It was never so easy or so tasty. :)

Washington DC's fight against it's high HIV/AIDS infection

Some folks think that HIV/AIDS is a disease that affects the African continent and doesn't really touch them in their comfy American town. But the truth is our capital, Washington DC, has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the USA. This is sobering and should remind us all, no matter sexual orientation or lifestyle or whether we live in cities, the suburbs or in rural towns, that we're all vulnerable and should be ever vigilant on protecting ourselves and our loved ones. Prevention and early treatment are your best bets to living well and that comes from education and lots of research. And from getting yourself tested, regularly.
So now a new partnership between NIH and the District is being forged to "apply research initiatives as a way to reduce the number of new HIV infections, improve the health of residents living with HIV/AIDS, and strengthen the city’s ability to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic."
They've laid out a four-point agenda, of which you can read about here.

And remember, Dining Out For Life is a 55+ city-wide HIV/AIDS research fundraising event. Find out if your city participates! Then, take that loved one of yours or get a bunch of friends together and enjoy a great meal, made all the more delicious because you know you're doing your part to help! Mmmmm....Fighting the good fight never tasted so good!

International HIV/AIDS News

We've got a weekend round-up of international HIV/AIDS news that include radio shows in China, international travel restrictions, Medicare coverage, and problems in the Capitol. It's a mixed bag of good'n bad - but we offer it to you for your information!

China to launch AIDS radio programme: state media

U.S. rules altered for foreigners with HIV

Medicare now covers some HIV testing

AIDS epidemic in Washington, DC