Action Duchenne launches nationwide campaign Dinner4Duchenne to get friends Dining for Charity

Trend for ‘pop-up’ restaurants fuels initiative from Action Duchenne where friends host paid for dinner parties

Action Duchenne has started its year-long national campaign Dinner4Duchenne to get people hosting dinners to raise funds for the only charity dedicated to finding a cure and effective treatments for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Budding dinner party hosts can register at the Action Duchenne website to receive an organiser’s pack which includes hints and tips, invitations, suggestions to help manage donations and background information about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Nick Catlin, CEO and founder of Action Duchenne said,

“We were looking for a fun way for our supporters to raising money where everyone could join in. The recent trend for ‘pop-up’ restaurants where people open up their homes to paying customers and the popularity of shows like Come Dine with Me sparked the idea. The dinners can be as grand or as homely as people want with friends and family donating for their supper. We have even set up a section on the Action Duchenne website specifically for taking payments so that there is no embarrassment about asking for money.”

Hosts are not limited to holding events at their own homes, schools and work places are also encouraged to get involved. Firms with canteens are being asked to prepare their most popular dish and ask people to make an extra donation. School children are getting involved by taking a packed lunch to school on a specific day and donating what they would have spent in the canteen that day. Schools are also encouraged to produce School Cook Books, with families supplying their favourite recipes to share, and then selling the books with funds donated to Action Duchenne.

Hosts can use the Dinner4Good (www.dinner4good.com/ActionDuchenne ) website to invite guests, receive acceptances, post their menu and collect donations. Alternatively hosts can set up their own Stop Wasting page on the Action Duchenne website to share their experiences and guests can make donations directly to the charity. All proceeds from the Dinner4Duchenne campaign will go towards funding research for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy,

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy affects 1 in 3,500 male births, affects 2,500 people in the UK and 40,000 globally. Duchenne is a muscle wasting disease that affects boys and very occasionally girls. Boys with Duchenne are usually in a wheel chair by age 10 and often don’t survive beyond late teens or early twenties. Their muscles gradually weaken and waste away affecting every muscle in the body including the heart and the diaphragm which operates the lungs. In Denmark young men with Duchenne live much longer, often into their 30s and 40s, due to the better, multi-disciplinary medical care provided. Action Duchenne is lobbying the UK government to provide a similar standard of care to boys and young men in the UK.

For help with organising your Dinner4Duchenne please go to www.actionduchenne.org/dinner4duchenne and download your organisers pack.