Dining out is something we all do. Everyone needs a night off from cooking for the family or needs to go out on that well-deserved date night. What if you could go out to eat and not only enjoy some delicious food and family time but also help the United Way? You can! The United Way’s Annual Dine Out Week is January 26 through February 1.
“We always try to pick a fairly busy sports week,” says Libby Boucher, Executive Director of the United Way of Crookston. “We know the restaurants will be busy when a lot is going on in town.”
Boucher says the restaurants in Crookston are always ready to help out. “They are so good; they answer the call whenever we have it,” says Boucher. “This is almost kind of a two-way street for this one because they participate, and we advertise.”
How can you help the United Way during Dine Out Week? It’s simple: Dine Out. “You as a customer don’t have to give anything extra unless you want to, this is all the restaurants giving,” says Boucher. “So most of them do just a flat fee, some do a percentage of their weekly sales, and some do a percentage of each check for the week.” By doing this, restaurants can tailor their giving to what works best for them.
So, what restaurants are participating? “We have Scobey’s at the Crookston Inn, Drafts, McDonald’s, Wonderful Life Foods, The Ranch at Minakwa, and The Irishman’s Shanty,” says Boucher. “Those are kind of our staple ones.”
Each participating restaurant will have table tents so you can see where the money is going. “What the United Way does is we fundraise for some of these programs that don’t necessarily have the staff, maybe not the resources or the time to be able to do a lot of fundraising,” says Boucher. “We raise those funds to help support the Polk County DAC, Hospice of the Red River Valley, Meals on Wheels in Crookston, and Eat United.”
Everything the United Way of Crookston brings in goes back out, says Boucher. “This is a way for our restaurant owners, in particular, to help us out,” says Boucher. “They step up, and so this is kind of our way not only for us to get some money coming in, but it’s also a way for us to send people through their doors.”
The United Ways Dine Out Week is January 26 through February 1.
