Thinking of trying a new restaurant in town? Haven’t been to your favourite eatery for a while? Consider saving the trip for March 12th and participate in Dine Out for Learning.

Dine Out for Learning is a fundraising event that takes place on March 12th with participation at more than 20 Red Deer restaurants. Ten per cent of the bill, excluding alcoholic beverages and taxes, is donated to the Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Red Deer to fund their programs.

“Dine Out for Learning began last year, and we’d like to make this our main fundraiser. We got the idea from some groups in Arizona and Whistler that have used this kind of tool to successfully raise funds,” said LDA president Janet de LaForest.

“This year we have about 29 restaurants signed up, which is an increase of about five from last year. We are continuing with the same 10 per cent donation model as we used last year, but we have changed the day of the week from Tuesday to Thursday this year.”

New this year is an ‘Eat to Compete’ portion that encourages local businesses to order lunch for staff from participating restaurants. de LaForest said although the response was great last year, the LDA thought that they may be able to reach a few more people by adding a lunchtime portion rather than only an evening.

“We really want to highlight the lunch-hour ‘Eat to Compete’ portion to invite businesses to get involved. We want people to check the list because maybe their favourite restaurant is there, or one they’ve wanted to try and it can help us out if they go on March 12th.”

She said the day is a great day to have a stay-in lunch at the office with co-workers, go out for a date night or enjoy a family dinner.

Participating restaurants include ABC Country Restaurant, Coras, Burger Boy, One Eleven Grill, Fratters Speakeasy, State and Main, Red Star Chinese Restaurant and Tandoor ‘n’ Flame. A full list of participating restaurants is available at ldreddeer.ca.

Last year the funds collected went to the LDA tutoring program which delivers personalized tutoring for adults and school-aged children. The program works in partnership with Red Deer College, which provides education students who facilitate the programs designed by the LDA program director.

The Learning Disabilities Association facilitates tutoring for individuals with learning disabilities and ADHD. As well they promote advocacy, outreach and information in support of their clients.

More information is available at www.ldreddeer.ca.

kmendonsa@reddeerexpress.com