Newport Restaurants Join Statewide AIDS Campaign

Several Newport restaurants are joining in a statewide day to fight HIV/AIDS, Thursday, April 25.

Pier 49 Seafood and Spirits and Speakeasy Bar & Grille will be donating a portion of its dinner proceeds on this day. 

They’re participating in Dining Out for Life, benefiting AIDS Project RI, which provides education, prevention and testing programs and a range of services for people living with HIV/AIDS in the state.

Thirty restaurants across Rhode Island are participating on that day, which is also being observed in many communities across the nation and in Canada.

NBC 10 news anchor and reporter Mario Hilario is chairing the Rhode Island event. “I am honored to chair this important event that brings about awareness of HIV/AIDS as well as raises funds for HIV testing, education and prevention efforts, and to care for people infected with HIV,” he said. 

AIDS Project RI executive director Thomas Bertrand, MPH, notes that, according to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately one of five people living with HIV in the United States do not even know that they are infected. “Funds raised via Dining Out for Life help AIDS Project RI conduct community-based HIV testing to help people know their status,” he said.

For a complete list of participating restaurants, visit www.aidsprojectri.org.

“We ask everyone to take a look at the list and make a point to dine out at one or more of the participating restaurants on that day,” said the event’s coordinator Amy Stein.  “These establishments are supporting the fight against AIDS, so we’re asking the community to support them.”