On Thursday, April 25, people can join Chicago's restaurant community for Dining Out For Life Chicago to ensure people in Chicago affected by HIV/AIDS can access essential services.
Dining Out For Life® is an international HIV/AIDS fundraising organization hosting dining events in more than 50 cities, raising more than $4 million annually. Actress Pam Grier, Chopped host Ted Allen (who was also one of the original co-hosts in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) and fashion designer Mondo Guerra are among the celebrities who have been involved with the cause over the years.
Windy City Times recently talked with Vivent Health/TPAN Senior Director of Development Lorraine Hayes about this year's event in Chicago.
NOTE: This conversation was edited for clarity and length.
Windy City Times: The merger between Vivent and TPAN happened last year. Can you talk a little bit about how and why that happened?
Lorraine Hayes: We announced it in January 2023 and it became official on March 1, 2023.
We had a Howard Brown clinic that was on site at TPAN before the pandemic for a few years. When the pandemic hit, Howard Brown focused on COVID and had some staff turnover, and they decided not to come back to TPAN after the peak of the pandemic was over. We were looking for other organizations to partner with because we knew that having a clinic was really essential to our clients. We had conversations with other entities and that's how Vivent [showed up] on our radar.
We spent a few months assessing each other and we came to an agreement that this would be a good fit for us. We would be able to add all these services—like dental, medical and legal aid—but we would still be able to be TPAN at the same time. We're still TPAN in the community. Also, they have the same model of care, meaning that we never turn anyone away because of an inability to pay or being uninsured. We thought this would be a seamless way to continue serving the community but adding these other services.
WCT: And Vivent has merged with other service organizations in other cities, such as Detroit.
LH: Yeah. And Vivent has no more mergers planned for the foreseeable future. I think the Detroit conversation before TPAN came into the picture, from what I understand. It was a long process.
Vivent has locations in six states, like Wisconsin, Kansas City, St. Louis, Denver, Chicago, Austin and Detroit. It's actually a pretty modest organization. If you look at the 990, it says $260 million and you might think, "They're rich!" But 87% of that is pharmacy money—meaning that we're going to have a pharmacy, also, and we have to buy and dispense the medications.
WCT: For the readers, please talk about Dining Out for Life.
LH: Sure. This is our seventh year participating, but it's been around for many, many years. The license was previously held by [the now-defunct nonprofit] EdgeAlliance.
It's a program in which we partner with restaurants that commit to donating a percentage of their proceeds on Dining Out for Life day back to TPAN to support our services. All you have to do is eat at one of the restaurants and help support us, but it's also an easy way for us to talk about the things that we do. Most of the restaurants will have an ambassador there who can talk about TPAN; it's a really good way for us to get outside our bubble and share things with people who may not be walking through our doors.
WCT: I saw the list of participating restaurants for this year—and it seems significantly smaller than in previous years. Why is that?
LH: We've been trending down since COVID hit. We didn't even host the events then; we just encouraged people to support their restaurants.
The first year we did it, I think we had 65 restaurants. What we didn't count on is that you also need 65 [ambassadors]. So after COVID, when we revisited the event, we thought we'd rather have fewer restaurants that are packed and where people are having really good experiences—and we'll build from there. So we changed our strategy.
And, honestly, some of the restaurants didn't have that great of an experience because we weren't able to fill restaurants when we had them all over town and weren't able to have ambassadors for all the spots. So now we have 18-20 restaurants but they're going to be packed. We're going to have live music at a lot of the places and we're going to have a roaming drag show with Muffy Fishbasket at some of the locations.
WCT: Could a restaurant join if the owner wanted to participate?
LH: Oh, sure, they could. This year, we have a lot of returning restaurants but, unfortunately, some of the spots we had last year have closed. But we welcome anyone.
WCT: Do you know if Ted Allen is still the national spokesperson for Dining Out for Life?
LH: I don't think [he is]. He was [at one point] and then Mondo was the spokesperson for a few years.
I know Dining Out for Life has had some internal changes on the international level, where they're revamping things and focusing on being more community-centered. For example, Dining Out for Life used to be held on only one date but, because of COVID and other things, people now choose their own.
WCT: Do you know where you'll dine?
LH: I'm going to float around. I think I'll be at Anteprima—which has been one of our biggest supporters over the years—as well as Hopleaf at the Evanston spot Ward 8, which is a cute cocktail bar that has a small menu but is so good. [Note: Some of the other participating restaurants include Bar Roma, Burke's Public House, Kit Kat Lounge and Supper Club, Lark, Ed Debevic's, Replay Andersonville, El Taco Cart and The Dearborn.]
And one of our goals is to expand Dining Out for Life to the South and West sides. We want people who come to us for services to have options. But it's been difficult to expand to those areas of Chicago.
WCT: Why is that?
LH: I feel that they just don't know about the event. We're all over Andersonville and Lake View; people in those areas not only know about TPAN but they also know about Dining Out for Life. But I think it's really important for us to show up in areas where our clients work. We've been asking for recommendations, we've been doing pop-ups and we've been talking with managers, but we haven't gotten anyone to bite the bullet yet—but it only takes one or two to participate. Then, we'll hopefully have more options.
We want to show up in the communities that are the most impacted. COVID shined a light on health inequities that still exist. When you think about HIV about who is disproportionately testing positive but when you also think about PrEP, there are disparities there, too. There are lots of work.
WCT: If people can't make it to Dining Out for Life, how can they contribute?
LH: People can always go to TPAN.com/donate. We're also looking for volunteers. We've done a lot of work with corporate resource groups this year, such as Chase. We also work with local nightclubs, getting out and educating people.
