o out and eat.
That’s the simple clarion call for this year’s 16th annual Dine Out Against Hunger event, scheduled boroughwide for April 10.
“If there’s one thing I do well, your mom does well, and most of us here do well is eat,” said the Rev. Terry Troia, executive director of Project Hospitality, during the kick-off lunch Tuesday in the agency’s Community Services Center in Stapleton.
The all-day Dine Out campaign will see 125 Island restaurants open their doors for breakfast, lunch and dinner, providing 20 percent of that day’s proceeds to benefit Project Hospitality. But the message behind Rev. Troia’s initial lightheartedness goes much deeper: massive federal cuts have hit food benefit programs, as even more Island residents become dependent on local pantries and food kitchens.