How the Great American Dine Out Helps

Restaurants, Sponsors and Diners Raise Critical Funds

Funds raised through the Great American Dine Out support No Kid Hungry™, Share Our Strength’s campaign to end childhood hunger in America by 2015.

Great American Dine Out funds help Share Our Strength connect needy families with food in the following ways:

Asian Family Dining  
  • Enroll more eligible kids in school breakfast, after-school snacks and meals, and their families in SNAP (food stamps).
  • Bring community gardens and farmers markets to low-income neighborhoods
  • Bring affordable, fresh fruits and vegetables to urban corner stores.
  • Teach at-risk families how to plan, shop for, and prepare healthy, low-cost meals at home.
  • Help local food pantries, food banks and soup kitchens meet the pressing demand for more nutritious food.
  • Increase awareness and understanding of childhood hunger and solutions to it.

Share Our Strength Awards Grants

As part of the No Kid Hungry campaign, funds raised through the Great American Dine Out are granted out to anti-hunger organizations that demonstrate effective work to help end childhood hunger. Grantmaking  is a full-year process—here’s how it works.

    Fall: Thousands of restaurants raise funds during the Great American Dine Out, September 19-25, 2010.

    Winter-Early Spring: Share Our Strength calls for Letters of Intent from nonprofits interested in applying for a grant.

    Spring-Early Summer: Share Our Strength sends out Requests for Proposals based on the Letters of Intent, and nonprofits submit their Grant Proposals.

    Summer-Early Fall: Share Our Strength awards grants from funds raised through the Great American Dine Out.

Organizations that receive Share Our Strength grants use the funds as described in their approved proposals and report their progress to Share Our Strength during the following months.

Success!

“In Maryland, we increased participation in school breakfast by 7% the first year, and started participating in the Afterschool Supper Program. Our goal was to have 20% of eligible sites participating in Afterschool Suppers in the first year and we exceeded that goal.”—Rosemary King Johnson, Executive Director, Maryland Governor's Office for Children, for the Partnership to End childhood Hunger in Maryland.

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