The Twin Cities Dining in the Dark event has been held the last 7 years at the Minneapolis Hilton. Attendees actually don masks for the entree portion of the dinner in order to gain some empathy and insight into the daily struggles of those facing vision loss. WCCO-TV's Frank Vascellaro is the event emcee and auctioneer. There is a silent auction held before dinner during the cocktail hour, and a live auction held during dinner. Proceeds from the dinner benefit the Foundation Fighting Blindness, a non-profit that funds treatments and cures for blinding diseases of the retina, like macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa (RP), etc. that affect over 10 million Americans.