Every cent
of benefit goes
to tsunami relief

The thing about charity affairs is that you've got to spend money to make money, and so the amount that goes to the Good Cause is normally some fraction of what is donated. Expenses take the rest.

Tsunami relief Benefit dinner: 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday Place: Aloha Tower Marketplace Tickets: $60, available at Chai's Island Bistro Call: 585-0011 If you can't make Monday's benefit dinner, consider these other ways to give: Benefit Events Saturday: Unity Crayons hosts Ska A Go-Go, 8 p.m. at Coffee Talk, 3601 Waialae Ave. Tickets are $5, with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross. Call 255-4662. Sunday: Pipeline Cafe's "T.E.A.R. Concert" (for Tsunami Emergency Asian Relief) supports the East-West Center's Tsunami Relief Fund. Doors open at 4 p.m., with complimentary pupus until 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, available at Pipeline, East-West Center or at the door. Call 589-1999 or 944-7111. Send cash $20,000 in 2 Days: Cole Academy raised $20,000 -- a dollar for every Hawaii child in preschool -- over two days last week, but is still collecting. Make checks to U.S. Fund for Unicef and send to South Asia Keiki Aloha, care of Cole Academy, 36 Merchant St., Honolulu 96813. Call 531-4500. East-West Center Tsunami Relief Fund: Mail checks to 1601 East-West Road, Honolulu 96848-1601, drop them off at any First Hawaiian Bank or donate online, www.eastwestcenter.org . American Red Cross: Send checks to the Hawaii chapter, 4155 Diamond Head Road, or call 800-HELP-NOW.

On Monday, though, buy a $60 ticket to a benefit dinner for tsunami relief and every penny goes to the American Red Cross for mitigating the disaster that has killed nearly 150,000 people in Asia.

The organizers barely want to touch your cash: Make your check out directly to the Red Cross.

And you still get to eat.

Chef Chai Chaowasaree, whose native Thailand suffered more than 5,000 deaths in the Dec. 26 tsunami, organized the fund-raiser in three days, during one of the busiest weeks for restaurants, the ramp-up to New Year's.

All those contacted -- from chefs, to wine distributors, to entertainers -- gave their time, their food, their equipment. "Tablecloths, napkins, rental tables, everything," he said. No charge.

"I was just amazed. Nobody said no."

Along with Chaowasaree's restaurants -- Chai's Island Bistro and Singha Thai Cuisine -- 17 restaurants, two hotels and a catering company will serve up a dish each: Alan Wong's, Roy's, Chef Mavro, Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar, 3660 on the Rise, Diamond Head Grill, the Bistro at Century Center, Le Bistro, Hy's Steak House, Mariposa, Nori's Saimin, Keo's, Donato's, Side Street Inn, Duke's Canoe Club, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Hawaii Prince Hotel, Hilton Hawaiian Village and Olino Events.

The entertainment: Henry Kapono, the Brothers Cazimero, Maunalua, Na Palapalai, Jake Shimabukuro and Jerry Santos and Friends.

Chaowasaree's family is in Bangkok, removed from danger, but he said the disaster was impossible to ignore. He hopes to raise $100,000 (that's 1,667 tickets).