Overview Dining Away Duchenne is a chef dine-around held each September in the North Hall of Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. It raises money for the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne, which funds research into treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common fatal genetic disease of childhood. Joel and Dana Wood started the foundation after their son James was diagnosed, and the two of them still host the evening. Senator Roger Wicker has presided as honorary chairman since the start. On site Nobody sits down. It is a come-and-go evening, three hours long, set up like a cocktail party rather than a seated dinner. Around twenty restaurants each run a tasting table, and guests move from one to the next. A raffle and a silent auction run through the night. Honorees are recognized from the floor, and the foundation prints a program that lists its sponsors. Audience It is a Washington policy crowd. Several hundred guests come through, mostly lobbyists, trade association staff, congressional aides and members of Congress. The host committee lists around ninety senators and representatives from both parties, and dozens show up. Duchenne families and longtime donors fill out the room. Talent and Influencers The food comes from well-known DC chefs, among them Erik Bruner-Yang of Maketto, Seng Luangrath of Thip Khao, Scott Drewno and Danny Lee of the Fried Rice Collective, and Kyle Bailey of Long Shot Hospitality. José Andrés has been spotted in the crowd before. Each year the foundation honors lawmakers who have fought for Duchenne research funding. Senator Susan Collins is a recent honoree, and so are Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Representative John Joyce. Track record The event has run every year since the early 2000s and is the foundation's main fundraiser. The foundation raises about $500,000 a year. It gave seed money to the international clinical trial network that went on to test vamorolone, which the FDA approved for Duchenne as AGAMREE. The Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers has come in at the top Epicurean level. Brand presence Sponsors buy one of five named levels. The top four come with signage in the North Hall and recognition in the printed program, and the entry level gets a program mention. Every level includes reception tickets, from two at the bottom to twenty-five at the top, and a sponsor can use them to host clients. It is a small, dense room with a lot of Capitol Hill decision-makers, so the tickets and the program listing do most of the work for a brand that wants to be seen supporting children's health research.