In May, we had a really good month in ad sales thanks to a 3 month ad that was purchased by the Farm and Food Policy Project, and we raised close to $350 for House of Ruth. This month (June), we're going to donate the ad sales to the Capitol Hill Community Foundation to help the Eastern Market merchants get back in business. For those of you that don't know, the merchants that used to occupy the South Hall at Eastern Market, are still operating and trying to do business in various areas in Capitol Hill. For information on where you can find them, look to SaveEasternMarket.org for how, where, and when the merchants are operating.

Only 5 days left to purchase tickets for the Taste of the Nation event on April 9th. If you don't buy tickets here's what you'll be missing in the "Tiki Lounge". What's in the "Tiki Lounge" you may ask? Well I'll tell you.

1. Grass skirts (come on, you know you want one...)
2. Innovative sushi from the lively Penn Quarter hot spot Oya.
3. Cocktail creations of award winning bar savant Todd Thrasher from Restaurant Eve and PX.
4. Brian Zippin from Central, my new favorite place to eat in downtown DC. Have you had the Manhattan there? Amazing!

Since I'm going to be there as well, its not in my best interest to tell you about this, although, I'm doing so out of the kindness of my heart, because I really think all of you should go. Tickets for the general admission including the Tiki Lounge are $110. If that's a little over your budget, then general admission is $75. It's for a good cause, and if you're like me, you'll spend that much on a night out at a restaurant easily, so why not have that money go for a good cause?!

Hope to see you there. Buy tickets here while you still can!

Don't forget that this Thursday March 8th is the Food and Friends' Dining Out for Life event where 150 area restaurants donate percentages of their earnings for the evening to Food and Friends. Some restaurants are even donating 100% of their earnings the evening. To see the full list of restaurants that are participating, go to the event web site.

Food & Friends is an organization that prepares, packages and delivers meals and groceries to more than 1,200 people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-challenging illnesses throughout Washington, DC, 7 counties of Maryland and 7 counties and 6 independent cities in Virginia. Since 1988, Food & Friends has provided food and companionship to our clients, their loved ones and caregivers. To learn more about Food and Friends, check out their web site.

Thanks to all the people that clicked on the Google Ads in January, D.C. Foodies had its second best month ever for Google Ads and sent over $200 to Food and Friends. Thanks everyone! Keep clicking on those ads!

For February, I'll be donating the ad revenue to D.C. Central Kitchen. From the D.C. Central Kitchen web site:

DC Central Kitchen, Inc. is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation that was incorporated on July 27, 1988 and began its first phase of operations on January 20, 1989, redistributing the excess food from the Presidential inauguration. The Kitchen is founded on the premise that when fighting poverty, one must fight to win by using every resource available. Be it food, money, or people, we at the Kitchen hate to see wasted potential. Since its inception, DC Central Kitchen has used the kitchen as a central location to recover unused food, prepare and deliver meals to partner social service agencies, train and employ homeless men and women for the food service industry, and intellectually engage volunteers.

DC Central Kitchen is not a 'soup kitchen'. Our cohesive approach to solving the interconnected problems of poverty, hunger, and homelessness has led us to become a recognized national leader in our field. As a community kitchen, we recycle over one ton of surplus food each day that would otherwise go to waste and turn it into 4,000 meals for the hungry in the greater Washington, DC region. Among the people preparing these meals are the students of our Culinary Job Training program; once homeless and hungry individuals themselves, these aspiring men and women are equipped with professional and life skills. DC Central Kitchen uses the existing ingredients of our society to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities.

You can find out more about donating or volunteering with D.C. Central Kitchen on their web site.

Happy New Year's Day everyone. Yay! It's 2007.

and there was much rejoicing...

Anyway, the year flew by so fast I don't know where all the time went. Probably because I spent most of the last three months preparing for a move, and due to that I haven't been posting as much as I wanted to, but my life should be getting back into order now. (crosses fingers)

As part of my New Year's resolution, I'll be donating the profits from my ads to a food or hunger-related charity from now on. Each month, I'll choose a charity and cut them a check when I get the payment for the ads that are placed during that month. The charity for the month of January is Food and Friends.

From the Food and Friends web site:

Reverend Carla Gorrell founded Food & Friends in 1988 when a friend, sick at home with AIDS, needed something to eat. What began as lunch for one has become 3 meals a day, for nearly 1,000 individuals, six days a week. Over the past decade, we have moved from a cramped church basement to our own state-of-the-art kitchen and pantry facility and initiated new programs to meet the changing needs of people living with HIV/AIDS in the Washington, DC, metropolitan community.

To donate to or volunteer with Food and Friends, go here.