Glasshalfull "Dine for a Cause" program proceeds top $34,000 in 2018

Carrboro restaurant Glasshalfull’s “Dine for a Cause” program, which donates 10 percent of sales to local charities on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, raised more than $34,000 in 2018.

The funds go to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center on Tuesday nights. The Wednesday night proceeds are split five ways among PORCH, the Carrboro Community Health Center, the Dispute Settlement Center, the Orange County Literacy Council and UNC Horizons.

Dine for a Cause started when Glasshalfull partnered with the Lineberger Center. The restaurant's co-owner, Jim Wald, had just lost a friend to pancreatic cancer, and noted as a cancer survivor himself, that it is “something that touches everybody.” 

Wald said he was tired of the way donations were handled at the restaurant. He said before Dine for a Cause, groups that did events with Glasshalfull changed weekly, the small contributions were difficult to track and there was no way to know if the restaurant was donating as much as it could.

Wanting to have a program in place that fit the business and was more organized, Glasshalfull decided to partner with the Lineberger Center, donating 10 percent of lunch and dinner sales on Tuesdays. Both the Lineberger Center and the restaurant promoted the events, and Wald said sales increased during the first year between 20 and 25 percent.

Glasshalfull has donated nearly $36,000 to the Lineberger Center since the program began.

After the first year of Dine for a Cause, the program was expanded to Wednesdays, focusing more on smaller, Carrboro-specific groups. Wald said there are many other important causes which can often be overlooked, like the Dispute Settlement Center. After the expansion from March 2018 through the rest of the year, $16,000 was raised for the five groups.

Glasshalfull hopes to expand the program and explore the possibility of adding another day to the Dine for a Cause schedule if it continues to be popular. 

“Restaurants are community spaces," Wald said. "You want to be part of the community and give back to the community.” 

Wald also said he has to keep the restaurant going and continue paying his employees but hopes to continue expanding the program.

"(We) could eventually get to where every day has some group of nonprofits,” he said.

Debbie Horwitz, a director at PORCH, one of the organizations working with Glasshalfull on Wednesday nights, said she was very pleased with their partnership. Since March 2018, when the restaurant started working with PORCH, they have raised over $3,000.

The money from Dine for a Cause goes towards PORCH's Food for Families Program. Every month, each of the 417 local families enrolled in the program receives seven to 10 days of fresh food.

“This partnership between PORCH and Glasshalfull allows us to provide fresh, healthy food to more families that need it," Horwitz said. "We are so grateful for their support and their caring contribution to our community.” 

Orange County Literacy has been working with Glasshalfull for nearly 10 years according to Alice Denson, executive director of Orange County Literacy. The restaurant has been a longtime supporter of the Writers for Readers fundraiser. 

Denson said the organization is thrilled to be part of Dine for a Cause and called it a generous program.

UNC Horizons, a substance use disorder treatment program, promotes the restaurant by pushing information out to their own staff in promotional emails and on their annual report. Glasshalfull’s contributions are earmarked for Horizons' provided daycare, which typically runs at a deficit of $50,000 to $100,000 a year. 

"What I love is that he's super deliberate and thoughtful about where the money is going," said Jodie Gisser, UNC Horizons major gift officer, referring to Wald. "(He) is really making a beautiful statement that we need to support all of the amazing work that’s being done in our community.”

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