Between the return of the Music City Food & Wine Festival and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp’s Dine Nashville, we are in the middle of a really busy period for culinary events. But there's one more important annual event that shouldn't fall through the cracks while you’re planning your calendar.
Dining Out for Life is scheduled for May 1 this year, but there may well be events throughout the week, including weekend brunches, special restaurant buy-outs and even bar and food truck events. Nashville Cares turns 40 years old this year, which marks four decades of providing care and compassion to Middle Tennesseans afflicted by HIV and AIDS. I was in the Bay Area during the late 1980s, and I remember how AIDS was treated as a frightening and central part of society. The fact that Nashville was already reaching out to help the local community long before the national eye was focused on the disease is pretty remarkable.
Besides being a landmark year for Nashville Cares, the organization is really at an important inflection point. Thanks to years of research and medical discoveries, AIDS has become something that we can actually talk about curing. Treatments have already turned the disorder into a chronic, survivable disease, and ongoing research has been making tremendous progress.
But these days, the community is worried that funding will be cut back or cut off, that access to treatments will be eliminated, that the old stigmas will return. It’s a scary time, but the volunteers and staff at Nashville Cares and Dining Out for Life are moving forward undeterred!
Get ready for three days and nights of eating and drinking at Centennial Park, April 24-27
The list of participating restaurants is still coming together, but organizers are already ahead of last year’s pace for dining opportunities. In case you’re not familiar with the structure of DOFL, here’s how it works: You go out to dinner, pay your tab, and a portion of your bill is donated to Nashville Cares. That’s it! It couldn’t be simpler.
To expand, restaurants generously sign up to participate in Dining Out for Life and commit to donating between 25 and 100 percent of the receipts for May 1. They can choose which meals they want to include, so some do breakfast, brunch, lunch and/or dinner. The restaurants can also choose whether to include bar proceeds as well.
Nashville Cares helps sign up hosts for some of the restaurants. These volunteers basically throw a dinner party by inviting friends from their social circles or business connections. The beauty of this kind of dinner party is that your guests actually pay for their own meals and everyone is supporting a crucial cause in the community at the same time.
I’ll remind you closer to the event when more of the Dining Out for Life restaurants have been finalized so you can pick where you’ll want to take part. Until then, if you’re a restaurant who is interested in participating, reach out to the DOFL committee to find out more, including how this can benefit your restaurant in terms of marketing. If you’re interested in becoming a host or are a regular at a restaurant that you think should participate, there’s a quick questionnaire on the DOFL website for you to fill out, and the staff will help connect you with a restaurant.Â
As a longtime volunteer and host, I can guarantee that this is one of the easiest and most fun ways to do good for the city. Hosting a dinner party where somebody else does all the cooking and cleaning up is a dream. Knowing that you’re helping to care for community members with AIDS and HIV is a dream come true!
Make sure to mark your calendar for May 1, and stay tuned for more info as restaurants sign up.
