Today I'm speaking with Alyssa, the founder of the Dine-LI group on Facebook. It was started as a place where restaurants and foodies could connect. Different from other groups, restaurants are welcome to post their menus and specials. 

Prior to the pandemic, the group was known for its giveaways from Long Island restaurants. Since it's start in 2019, the group has grown to over 14,000 members through the relationships of her admin team and welcoming environment unlike many other groups you'll find on Facebook that include tons of negativity.

Here's a quick view of the Dine-LI guidelines: 

The group has also created helpful resources such as their takeout directory, a nearly 50 page PDF document broken out by town. If you're a Long Island resident looking for your best take-out options this is a priceless resource available free to members.

At the heart of the group during the pandemic has been their Dine-LI Gives Back program. To do date it has raised almost $10,000 dollars to fund meals for frontline workers in nursing homes, rehab centers, urgenct care, EMS, ambulance workers, veterans and more.

As of May 1st, the program has run out of funds but you can still help by reaching out to Alyssa directly through the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/dineli/

Visit https://bigfoodtalk.com to make a donation.

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Watch the Dine-LI Interview on YouTube

https://youtu.be/ldOjD8rfcck