Upcoming 'Dining Out For Life' To Raise Money For Moveable Feast

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- They deliver hundreds of thousands of meals every year here in Maryland to those suffering from life threatening illnesses. On Thursday, you can help them raise some much needed money.

Ron Matz has more on this year's upcoming "Dining Out For Life."

The volunteers are always busy at Moveable Feast, preparing meals to be delivered to people in Maryland who are homebound because of illness.

"We provide medically appropriate meals to people who are housebound because of their illness. Most of these individuals have a life threatening illness. It could be AIDS, cancer or cardiovascular disease. They're unable to access or prepare health or nutritious meals for themselves," said Tom Bonderenko, executive director, Moveable Feast.

The numbers are staggering.

"Last year, we delivered over 800,000 meals to over 5,000 households in Baltimore City, the five surrounding counties and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. That's a lot of meals, a lot of food that goes out from our kitchen," said Bonderenko.

Thursday is Dining Out For Life.

"This is great. We do as much charity work as we can. We're donating 50 percent of our proceeds. It's an amazing opportunity for us as a business," said Cyrus Keefer, chef at the 13.5% Wine Bar in Hampden.

Restaurants like Cafe Gia and 13.5% Wine Bar are among those serving up great food and donating some of their proceeds to Moveable Feast.

"Our concept is kind of like the Mediterranean meets global cuisine. We have everything from lamb meatballs to a new take on pizza to whole fish and ramen--you name it. We try to keep it new and exciting," said Keefer.

It's the 22nd year for Dining Out For Life; Baltimoreans reaching out to help each other.

"It's 22 years for Dining Out For Life. The restaurant community here in Baltimore is amazing. This year, we have nearly 60 restaurants participating in this event, giving anywhere from 25 to 100 percent of their income that night to Moveable Feast," said Bonderenko.

For a complete list of participating Dining Out For Life restaurants, CLICK HERE.