Closed on Mondays Opens Restaurant Doors to Nonprofits

Chef Aliza Miner found inspiration in a day off.

Canele, the Los Angeles restaurant where she runs Sunday brunch, closes on Mondays -- leaving stoves unused and a dining room empty.

Miner saw these shuttered Mondays as an opportunity to raise money for local nonprofits.

Miner had investigated volunteering for nonprofits that work with food, but she couldn't find an effective way of helping.

"These groups were all doing great things, but they didn't need my skills," Miner told AOL News.

So she joined forces with two friends, Marjory Garrison and Savita Ostendorf, who were also interested in helping out food-related nonprofits in the area.

In January 2010, Miner's friend's children were so moved by the devastation wrought by the earthquake in Haiti that they had the idea to turn their living room into a restaurant and serve food to friends to raise money for the earthquake relief effort. Miner had a brainstorm and, after getting the blessing of Canele's owners, she helped the children organize their fundraiser at the restaurant, where they served brunch to raise funds for Haiti.

"It felt great," Miner said. "I felt like I got to do what I do, and it benefits more than those who can come out and eat the food. I thought maybe we can do this for other causes."

Since then the group has organized three dinners at Canele, with the fourth event happening this month. All the nonprofits receiving proceeds are food-based.

The first dinner benefited a community garden built by an elementary school. "They needed the last bit of money and we raised $2,300 with the dinner," Miner said. "They were able to break ground a couple of weeks later."

Another beneficiary of Closed on Mondays is RootDown LA, which encourages children in South Los Angeles to eat healthier by teaching gardening, cooking and other life skills. Students from RootDown LA helped Ostendorf, Garrison and Miner in the kitchen making onion jam and lemon curd for the dessert for that night's dinner.

"It was great," said Megan Hanson, executive director of RootDown LA. "These kids are learning about healthy local foods, and then they got to see outside of their community what it looks like when this food is in an establishment."

Hanson says they raised around $1,500 from the dinner. The money went to the organization's youth leader fund.

Miner ensured that the dinners are more enjoyable than your typical dry chicken, hotel ballroom fundraiser. "It's a night out," she said. "You're not bombarded with information about the organization. There's no PowerPoint presentation or speech."

The dinners are prix fixe and are three courses. The restaurant's staff -- servers, dishwashers, cooks, all paid -- also benefit, and the restaurant makes a profit from the liquor sales. The night's profit from the food sales, however, goes directly to that evening's charity.

The three women of Closed on Mondays try to make it a win-win for everyone involved. Miner said except for foraged fruit, they don't receive anything for free to organize the dinners.

"We don't want to ask a farm or a local business to sacrifice to help another cause. We don't raise as much money, but we're sustainable."

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