St. Louis is one of the nation’s most generous cities, ranked 8th nationally, based on per-capita giving among large cities in 2009. We in the Gateway City know that charitable giving is important; it’s just a matter of deciding who should get our charitable dollars. Here are three ways to make your dining dollars support some worthy causes right now.
1. Give Back Mondays at Ruth’s Chris Beginning yesterday and running through the end of the year, when you head to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse downtown or in Clayton on Mondays and order the Give Back menu item of the month, 10 percent of sales will be donated to Backstoppers, a group which supports families of public safety workers in the greater St. Louis area who have died while on duty.
2. The Ripening of the Mad Tomato Chef-owner Vito Racanelli Jr.’s new restaurant at 8000 Carondelet Ave., in Clayton is set to officially open May 6. However, you can get a preview of Racanelli’s Southern Italian cuisine by attending the opening fundraiser party on Thursday, April 28. Half of the proceeds from your $30 ticket will support St. Louis area food bank Operation Food Search. Make your reservation by calling 314.802.8883 x 399.
3. Dine in the Dark to help fight blindness. Guests who attend Dining in the Dark at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac hotel on May 11 will don light-blocking blindfolds while dining and use their sense of smell, taste, sound and touch to gain heightened awareness of blindness. Proceeds from the event will support the sight-saving research efforts of national nonprofit Foundation Fighting Blindness. To purchase tickets, visit fightblindness.org or call 847.680.0100.
This article appears in April 2011.