If you’re anything like me, you can come up with a good excuse to eat out pretty much anytime. (Unfortunately, most of these excuses are simple variations on my own personal laziness. Hey, at least I’m honest.) But on March 5, everyone’s got a perfectly valid reason to take in a meal outside of your own kitchen: fighting AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening ailments.

We mentioned it back in January, but it bears repeating: Food and Friends, a local non-profit organization which delivers free meals and groceries to local Washingtonians struggling with debilitating illnesses, is hosting Dining Out For Life on Thursday, March 5 — in which a large collection of local eateries will donate 25–100 percent of their proceeds back to Food and Friends. The list of participating restaurants is diverse, running the gamut from dinner spots like Posto and Ristorante Tosca to quickie joints like Busboys and Poets. Trust us, your kitchen will be fine without you for one night.