nothin New Haven Dines Out For Life | New Haven Independent

New Haven Dines Out For Life

Bouncing her great-niece Zoe on her hip, Linda Hall-Zucker circulated around the buzzing back room at Kitchen Zinc, the air thick with the smell of spicy sopressata, glistening three cheese and simple tomato pies. She had a few questions. Did customers know what night it was? Or what a portion of the restaurant’s proceeds would go toward when the kitchen closed later that night? Had they come out as longtime supporters of the AIDS Project New Haven (APNH), or first-timers to the event? And what, to them, was at the heart of the evening?

Just across the street at Basta Trattoria, Chris Cole and Fran McMullen were surveying the number of faces they recognized in the room. Things looked good: friends, neighbors, and colleagues popped in to say hello and sit for dinner, or placate a sweet tooth with the Trattoria’s tiramisu and crème brûlée. The evening showed no sign of stopping as waiters whizzed by them and continued to take orders.

Further down Chapel at 168 York Street Cafe, the dinner crowd was just finishing their stuffed chicken breast and pork chops with gravy. A steady stream of SCSU students filtered upstairs, their laughter coming through the walls and flitting across the bar’s well-loved carpet. Owner Joseph Goodwin could feel that it was going to be a triumphant Thursday evening: Already bodies were packing into the bar, the hum and flow of conversation rising steadily. The party was just getting started.

Last Thursday night, these and over 40 other New Haven area restaurants set the festive tone for Dining Out For Life, a national event that raises funds for AIDS service organizations across the United States and Canada, and benefits the APNH here in New Haven. Founded in 1991 in Philadelphia, the event has now grown to 3,000 restaurants in over 60 cities.

What it looks like in business terms is simple enough. You eat and drink on a night out with friends, and a portion of the meal’s total — as well as whatever you choose to give individually — is donated to a local nonprofit that does really good work. But the payoff is so much more than that. This year, envelope donations in New Haven raised $12,610 alone. A further sum from restaurants that donated percentages has not yet been tabulated, but is expected in the next two months.

The event is years of planning, years of good relationship building. It’s bringing people to donate and participate in APNH in a way that we don’t always get, and it’s an opportunity for us at APNH to inform and educate people about HIV and AIDS and the work that we do … you don’t find events like that in the world these days, where organizations are coming together to cooperate. That’s why I’m passionate about this.” said Cole, executive director of APNH and the former national president of Dining Out for Life.

Sometimes when it gets a little bit frustrating, one of the things that keeps me going is knowing that I have contacts throughout the country. I can always pick up the phone and say I’m struggling.’ There’s always support,” added McMullen, APNH Caring Cuisine Program coordinator and events coordinator.

The event is made possible through collaborations with New Haven restaurants old and new and the help of a small, willing army of volunteer ambassadors. Hall-Zucker, one of them, says she can’t imagine doing anything else with her last Thursday in April. The reason? Straightforward enough.

This is a tremendous health service agency here in New Haven. It’s small, but it’s pretty powerful what they’re doing in terms of education, outreach, clients, case management, alternative health therapies and Caring Cuisine, which provides meals for people across the state,” Hall-Zucker said. When she worked for ANPH, I realized what these people were doing, and that they do it because they really care about other people and communities. Here’s this event where everybody goes out … here’s an excuse to try out new restaurants or go to old favorites, get your friends to go with you … and just because you came, you’re doing something really good for the community.” 

Other ambassadors and diners, camped out between Kitchen Zinc, Soul de Cuba Cafe, Nini’s House of Tapas, ROÌA and others, added that the evening was also about talking about HIV/AIDS as a pressing, acute and still-consuming disease.

I don’t think the Aids Project gets as much attention as it should. A lot of people think that the disease has gone away, and it’s not necessary to still give. It’s important that people remember that yes, it’s still there, and yes, you need to give,” said Kimberly Stewart (pictured above, in red jacket), a longtime New Havener who had joined El-Yasin for a drink at Kitchen Zinc.

One of my uncles died from AIDS, and I saw the lack of support that he got as soon as he found out that he was positive. The support system that he had around him completely crumbled, and it was mostly due to fear,” said Tina Franklin, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of psychiatry at Yale who served as an ambassador at the event. I think that something like this is a great way to help the community, and make people more aware of the need for help,” she added.

Giving Their All

As long as Dining Out for Life has existed in New Haven, there has been one institution that goes above and beyond, donating all of the evening’s profits to APNH. If you ask the staff at 168 York why, the answer isn’t just that it’s the oldest gay bar in New England. It’s much bigger than that.

I grew up in the crisis of AIDS, and I’ve owned the bar now … December makes 23 years being here. It’s an obligation that I have to do this, and I enjoy doing it. It’s a wonderful thing,” said Goodwin, who was born and raised in New Haven and purchased the bar after working there for five years. The 100% — it was a no brainer. Customers help us … people say they don’t know how to help. Well, you just have to ask them to help. That’s the key.”

Thursday night, the packed bar vibrated with the weight of his words. Friends from all corners of the city and beyond came out to drink and laugh in a safe space. Dining Out for Life ambassadors and representatives from The Mpowerment Center milled around, engaging in conversation with groups huddled at the bar and back tables.

When I first started thinking about giving back to charity, I felt like my job meant so much more. I’m really happy to be part of something,” said Leigh Elijah, who had come with his friend Am Norgen specifically for Dining Out for Life. His words resonated across the room.

And how did Goodwin feel as the night wound down and donations poured in?

I’m blessed,” he said.

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