When patrons to 13 area kosher restaurants sat down Tuesday, October 27, for a meal, or carried one home, they weren’t just satisfying their appetites, they were also contributing to an important cause.

The Jewish Family Service & Children’s Center of Passaic/Clifton worked with the eateries in its second annual Dine and Donate to benefit Project Stop Abusive Relationships At Home, better known as Project S.A.R.A.H.

Each of the participating restaurants donated 10 percent of Tuesday’s sales to the program that works to overcome cultural, legal and religious barriers confronting victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Participating restaurants included: Benjy’s Kosher Pizza of Fairlawn; the Doghouse of Teaneck; Estihana of Teaneck; etc steakhouse of Teaneck; Gotham Burger of Teaneck; Jerusalem Pizza of Elizabeth; Jerusalem Pizza of Passaic; King of Delancey of Passaic; Mocha Bleu of Teaneck; Nobo of Teaneck; Schnitzel+ of Teaneck; Prima Pizza of Passaic, and Smokey Joe’s of Teaneck.

“We are extremely thankful that even more restaurants participated in the Dine and Donate this year and are thankful that the community came out to show their support for Project S.A.R.A.H.,” said Elke Stein, the project’s director.

Jonny Shore, owner of Gotham Burger, told the Jewish Link that he was pleased to help such an important cause, and his restaurant did see “a nice bump in sales” Tuesday.

“We gave out pens, wristbands and our staff members were wearing pins for Project S.A.R.A.H.,” said Shore. “We put up signs promoting it. And in the end it raised money for a good cause. A lot of people did come because of the promotion to help out Project S.A.R.A.H. It was a great way of giving back to the community. Project S.A.R.A.H. is worthy of the tzedakah.”

Esther East, Executive Director of the Jewish Family Service & Children’s Center of Passaic/Clifton said, “The Dine and Donate is a great way spread awareness that resources are available to those who need it, while having an entertaining evening.”

Michele Wellikoff, Director of Public Relations and Special Events, said that all of the participating restaurants’ serving staff wore purple ribbons, the color of October’s “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” theme. Purple bracelets, with the agency’s logo, and with the words “No Excuse for Abuse” were handed out to customers for the second year of the Dine and Donate event. There were Project S.A.R.A.H. brochures with further information available for the restaurant customers. There were also staff members from the project available to answer any questions from the customers.

“We want people to be educated and aware of the issue of abuse,” said Wellikoff. “We also wanted them to know who we are and what we are.”

She said that the cause even gained interest from the many Mets fans that came to eateries such as the Doghouse to watch game one of the World Series.

“A lot of the Mets fans came over and put the purple bracelets on,” she said.

For more information visit Project S.A.R.A.H.’s website at www.jfsclifton.org/projectsarah.

By Phil Jacobs