Feeling hungry? You can curb that hunger today and help some local children who go to bed hungry a lot more times than they should.

United Way of Mercer County has teamed with eight area restaurants for Dine-Out Night, a new program designed to benefit United Way agencies, including those that provide food for children and families who need it.

Unfortunately, in these tough economic times, the need is growing.

Anyone dining in participating restaurants between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. today will see a portion of their dinner checks donated to United Way.

Included in the fundraiser are: The Wave, Nittany Pub & Grille and Ferrara’s A Taste of Italy, all of Sharon; La Isla, Chiccarino’s and Nick’s Inn 62, all of Hermitage; West Middlesex Diner and Cianci’s, Greenville.

“It’s our first time for this fundraiser,” said Jim Micsky, executive director of UWMC. “We appreciate the help of the participating restaurants and hope it grows even bigger in future years.”

And look at it this way. If you usually forgo dessert because you’re worried about the added calories, enjoying a sweet treat can be almost guilt-free because you can rationalize that it’s for a good cause.

This is a great time for anyone to enjoy a night of dining out, even if you are one of the families planning to eat out less in the next year because of increasing gas and health-care prices.

United Way, which needs to come up with new ideas to help meet the needs of struggling families throughout the country, can also help with that. Besides the Dine-Out Night, local United Way groups are also taking part in the FamilyWize Partnership prescription drug discount card program.

As detailed in Wednesday’s Herald, the program is designed to help individuals and families who don’t have health insurance or might need medicine not covered by their insurance plans.

The card could lower the cost of medicines an average of 20 percent.

FamilyWize has partnered with 550 United Way chapters in all 50 states and most pharmacies have agreed to participate in the program, according to United Way administrators.

The cards are available at all local United Way offices in Sharon, Grove City and Greenville, as well as a few other sites. For more information, contact your local United Way office or check out the Web site: www.familywize.org.