For one week in September, nearly 4,000 restaurants across the nation and hundreds of thousands of consumers helped fight childhood hunger in America. The inaugural Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out, presented by American Express, raised $500,000 toward ending childhood hunger.

Share Our Strength, a national organization working to make sure no kid in America will grow up hungry, will use funds raised from this campaign to help:
  • increase participation in school food and nutrition programs across the country;
  • develop more community gardens, food banks and food pantries;
  • improve access to fresh produce;
  • promote use of federal child food and nutrition programs (e.g. food stamps, school breakfast, etc.); and
  • advocate for stronger child food and nutrition-related programs nationwide.
The Great American Dine Out rallied restaurants from the entire industry, from coffee shops to fine-dining establishments. Participating restaurants included: Corner Bakery, Legal Sea Foods, Buffalo Wild Wings, Caribou Coffee, Elephant Bar Restaurant, Joe’s Crab Shack, Lone Star Steakhouse, The Melting Pot, Famous Dave’s, McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants and Union Square Hospitality Group.

The second annual Great American Dine Out is set for Sept. 20 to 26, 2009. Registration is open, and restaurants are already signing up. For more information on how to get involved, visit GreatAmericanDineOut.org.