Chowing down for charity

Two Cornwall Park-area businesses benefited from benefiting Maple Alley Inn for the 10th annual Dine Out.

Thanks to Diamond Jim’s Grill’s recent move to the Fountain District, Cornwall Park residents had two options to “Dine Out” in their neighborhood Tuesday.
Dine Out is an annual event organized by the Opportunity Council to benefit its Maple Alley Inn program, which serves hot, nutritional meals to people in need. Participating restaurants donate 20 percent of their profits from the day to Maple Alley Inn.
Cascade Pizza Inn, the other Cornwall Park neighborhood restaurant participating, has been involved with “Dine Out” every year since it began a decade ago.
Giving back can be good for business
This year, 40 restaurants participated in Dine Out. Most of those are part of a core group that participates every year, said Opportunity Council Executive Director Dave Finet.
Finet said he thinks restaurant owners choose to be part of Dine Out because they like to be able to show that they are socially responsible.
Sheri Emerson, director of communications for the Opportunity Council, agreed. She said the Opportunity Council conducts a survey of all the participating restaurants’ owners, and they often say Dine Out is a great way for them to give back to the community.
“Their staff and their patrons really appreciate being able to participate in this event,” Emerson said. “Also, a lot of them have told us it’s just good for the restaurant industry in general. [Participating restaurants] will get anywhere from 20 to, sometimes, 50 percent more business during Dine Out.”
Because 20 percent of the day’s profits go to Maple Alley Inn, Emerson said, restaurants usually either break even for the day after the donation, or make a higher profit than they would otherwise.
Tasia Tsoulouhas, who works at Cascade Pizza Inn, said she estimated the family-owned Italian restaurant was 40 percent busier Tuesday evening than usual.
One patron, Donna Pattinson, said that even though she rarely dines out, she was at Cascade Pizza Inn Tuesday night because she heard the restaurant was giving a percentage of its profits to a cause associated with feeding homeless people.
Getting community support
Maple Alley Inn has about 40 volunteers who have been making meals from scratch for seniors and people who are homeless, disabled or on limited incomes for 20 years. It was started in an alley off of Maple Street, behind the YWCA. The event has had several homes since then, Finet said, and now it takes place at Faith Lutheran Church on Northwest Avenue and McLeod Road.
Finet said that in addition to the funding it gets from Dine Out, Maple Alley Inn is supported by businesses like Hudson’s Bay and the Community Food Co-op.
“I think Maple Alley Inn enjoys a lot of community support from individuals and from businesses who donate food or money to make this program possible,” Emerson said.
She said the idea for Dine Out came from similar events elsewhere in the United States. It started with the Opportunity Council convincing a few restaurants that the event would be good for business, Emerson said, and now some restaurants contact the Opportunity Council to say they want to be a part of it.
Patrons do their part
Pattinson said she left a larger tip Tuesday night than she usually does.
“I feel I did my fair share,” she said.
Sara Burns, who Dined Out with her family, said her 16-year-old daughter heard about the event at school and encouraged her family to eat at Cascade Pizza Inn that night because it was an important cause to her.
“Especially in this economy,” Burns said, “you want to help as many people as you can.”
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