If you can eat, you can donate to the Seward County United Way. Four restaurants are on the schedule to help out the United Way in October. “We have a different restaurant ever week so that people can plan on going to each one,” said Kay Burtzloff, executive director of the Seward County United Way.

She explains how the program works. “Some communities also call it ‘Dine to Donate’ but how it works is that each restaurant has pledged to give us a portion of their proceeds for their day and time. All you have to do is eat at the restaurant during their United Way time and you’ll be supporting the Seward County United Way’s 27 local agencies. It doesn’t cost you anything extra. The easy way to remember it is that you dine to donate.”

The first “Eat Out for United Way” will be from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, at Vargas Restaurant. "Vargas was actually one of the first restaurants to do an event with us," said Burtzloff, "and every year, they’ve invited us back for another." Orders for carry-out also count.

The second “Eat Out” is set for 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at Spencer Browne’s Coffee House. “We added them last year. It’s always fun when we get to add a new restaurant and we hope this will spark a big turnout for our supporting restaurants," said Burtzloff.

The third “Eat Out” is the North and South Pizza Huts from 5 to 9 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 17. "We really appreciate all the support that High Plains Pizza gives to all the non-profits and schools," said Burtzloff. “This year we’re doing it in conjunction with Garden City, Dodge City, Hugoton and Meade. This will be the third time when all the Pizza Huts in the region have done an Eat Out on the same day.” Delivery and carry-out orders also count.

The fourth and last Eat Out for United Way will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25 , at Ruffino’s Italian Restaurant at the Depot. "This is the fifth year that Ruffino’s has joined with us for an Eat Out event.”

Burtzloff said, “We will have Seward County United Way volunteers on hand to thank the diners and to help in any way that we can. This is a fun way for people to show support for United Way and also to support the restaurants who have made the commitment to help in our community." For more information about the Seward County United Way, call 624-5400 or email [email protected] .