Nearly 200 restaurants across the Upstate are getting ready to hand over a chunk of their sales for a good cause. On Thursday, October 22, 2026, Let There Be Mom will hold its 20th Annual Dine Out for Mom, with 182 restaurant locations committing to donate 20% of their total sales from the entire day to the Greenville-based nonprofit.
According to Let There Be Mom, that 182-location count marks the largest turnout yet for the fundraiser, which the organization calls its biggest of the year. Each participating restaurant is also donating a gift card that will be bundled together into one grand prize for a raffle, the nonprofit's event page notes. WSPA 7News reports it will feature food from some of the participating restaurants throughout October, including specialties from Eggs Up Grill and Kite Hill Brewing, both located in Clemson.
What Let There Be Mom Does
Let There Be Mom serves local moms and dads battling a life-threatening illness, currently assisting families who live in or around the Greenville, South Carolina area, per the organization's own account of its mission. To qualify for services, a parent's physician must confirm the illness is life-threatening and attest that, without medical treatment, the parent's life expectancy would be two years or less, the nonprofit states on its website.
The point of it all, as WYFF4 has reported, is to help preserve the legacies of moms and dads facing those diagnoses for the children they leave behind. The station describes Dine Out for Mom as the organization's largest fundraiser of the year.
Some Restaurants Spreading Donations Across Multiple Days
Not every business is sticking strictly to October 22. Good To Go GVL's Five Forks location is listed as donating 20% of its sales from October 19 through 24, while Mad Batter Bakery & Cafe is set to donate 20% from October 20 through 24, according to the restaurant list posted on Let There Be Mom's site.
Two Decades of Growth
The event has come a long way since its early years. Back in 2018, 92 Upstate restaurants donated 20% of their total sales on October 25 to Let There Be Mom, per a listing on greenville.com, and that same year's event included breakfast, dinner, dine-in, carry-out and catering sales, plus a raffle with a grand prize gift card pooled from all 92 locations. By 2023, participation had climbed to 147 local restaurants, according to Fox Carolina, which at the time called it an all-time high for the fundraiser.
A separate WYFF4 report on that same 17th annual event noted that Let There Be Mom had, up to that point, served 182 families in the Upstate and left gifts for 438 children. The organization's founder and executive director told the station the group typically provides 12 to 15 gifts per child, spending about $3,000 on each one. Whether this year's final tally of restaurants or funds raised will set a new record won't be clear until after the October 22 event wraps.
Let There Be Mom has posted a full list of participating restaurants on its website for anyone looking to plan where to eat that day. With donations tied to total daily sales rather than a single meal, organizers are encouraging anyone eating in, carrying out, or catering through a participating location to factor in that their bill helps fund the cause.
