Designing Daughters takes over Sarasota

Dining for a Difference draws more than 1,500 out to dinner on Tuesday, Jan. 12

By Heather Merriman Saba
| 1:00 p.m. January 13, 2016

Britney Guertin, Marketing Coodinator of Shore, said that nearly half of the guests dining at Shore last night were there for the Designing Daughters.

Black Tie

As of noon Jan. 12, more than 1000 people were signed up to eat at various restaurants in Sarasota for the Designing Daughters of Sarasota's "Dining for a Difference" fundraising event and the numbers continued to rise leading up to the start time of the event.

The event was simple — go out to eat or to just grab a drink at any of the 21 participating restaurants between 5 and 9 p.m. and 15% of the bill would be donated back to Designing Daughters.

Deva O'Donnell, Tatyana Sharoubim-Stewart and Ashley Ryan at Cafe Amici.

After the numbers started rolling in this morning, more than 1,500 guests had dined at the restaurants under reservations mentioning Designing Daughters of Sarasota. Numbers of those who made last-minute reservations, walked in or those who just happened to be dining at a participating restaurant last night are still being tallied. The total amount of money raised during the event will be announced at a later date.

"We have been blown away by the Sarasota community's support for our 1st annual Dining for a Difference. So many local charities will see the impact from this event and we can't wait to do it again next year," says co-chair Elli Baldwin.