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Today marks the start of the 20th annual Houston Restaurant Weeks, Houston Food Bank's major annual fundraiser and an event that originally began as a weeklong celebration but has since grown to run through the Labor Day holiday.
Houston Restaurant Weeks, founded in 2003 by Cleverley Stone, is 'dining out for a cause,' Houston Food Bank President and CEO Briane Green said.
"As Houston Restaurant Weeks enters its 20th year of dining out for a cause, Houston Food Bank is grateful for the continued support of the Cleverley Stone Foundation," Greene said on the non-profit's website. "We also want to congratulate the Cleverley Stone Foundation on this special anniversary, and we look forward to being a part of this event for the next 20 years."
This year, hundreds of establishments are expected to participant, all serving a multi-course meal at special prices for brunch, lunch and dinner, Per a according to a news story by Houston National Public Radio affiliate Houston Public Media (HPM).
"There’s about 350 restaurants that are participating this year, which is the most we have ever had in 20 years," Katie Stone, Houston Restaurant Weeks president and Stone's daughter said in the HPM news story. "So, we're very excited about that and of course, the donation going to the Houston Food Bank serves as their biggest annual fundraiser.”
Houston Restaurant Weeks gives Houstonians the opportunity to dine out and give back to the community, according to a May 24, 2022, Houston Daily news story.
This year’s fundraiser, expected to run until Sept. 4, includes brunch and lunch for $25 and dinner for $39 or $55, according to Houston Restaurant Weeks’s website. Diners can dine-in or get their meals to go. Almost $19 million has been raised and approximately 56 million meals provided to Houston Food Bank in the past two decades, according to the website.
Stone said in a Houston FOX affiliate Channel 26 news story that the fundraiser became her late mother's "sole purpose."
"She was relentless in her passion for its success and supporting the industry she loved,” Stone said. “I know that she would be so happy that it continues to thrive," Stone said.
Participating eateries have promised to donate $3 for every brunch and lunch meal from the Houston Restaurant Weeks menu sold, $5 for $39 dinners, and $7 for $55 dinners.