On the last weekend of this month, fifteen Fauquier and Loudoun restaurants will ask their patrons to help local women fight breast cancer by donating to Middleburg's Cherry Blossom Breast Cancer Foundation.

"An alliance of this many restaurants to raise funds for the women of our two counties is unprecedented", said Mary Jo Jackson, Foundation Vice Chair. "If only 25% of their patrons respond to the request for ten per cent of the cost of the meal", she said, "more than $15,000 will be raised for us to use to detect and treat breast cancer in local women."

On Oct. 29, 30, and 31, each patron will be told of the restaurant's support for local women and then given a donation envelope addressed to the Foundation. The suggestion will be that ten per cent or more above the cost of the meal be donated to the local fight. The restaurants are expected to distribute more than 5,000 envelopes.

The participating restaurants are the Back Street Café, Blackthorne Inn and Restaurant, Eiffel Tower Café, Ford's Fish Shack, Fox's Den Tavern, The French Hound, Hunter's Head, Iron Bridge Wine Company, Julien's Café and Restaurant, La Villa Roma, Lightfoot Restaurant, Magnolia's at the Mill, The Red Fox Inn, and Tuscarora Mill.

The Cherry Blossom Breast Cancer Foundation, a 501(C)3 organization, has been raising money for Fauquier and Loudoun women since 2007. Earlier this month, on Oct 10, the Foundation conducted three simultaneous walk/run fundraisers in Leesburg, Middleburg, and Warrenton that received donations of $121,700 from more than 1,000 participants and sponsors.

The Middleburg foundation concentrates its grant-making in the two counties rather than sending it to a national organization. Its primary recipients the last three years have been the Loudoun Community Health Center, Fauquier Hospital, and INOVA Hospital. The COO of the Health Center recently said that funds from the Cherry Blossom Foundation have allowed the Center to work with INOVA Hospital to conduct 430 mamograms.