Common values spark love

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Looking for love in all the wrong places and coming up dry? Try stepping out of the traditional dating box and dipping your toes in the deep and fertile Washington charity circuit. You may just get hit with cupid’s arrow on philanthropy row.

It happened to Laura Evans - who co-anchors “Fox 5 News at 5 p.m.” - and her husband Mike Manatos.

The pair met during the 2002 Make-a-Wish Foundation triathlon.

“A mutual friend knew we’d both done the race a year earlier and, since we had that in common, thought we’d like each other,” Ms. Evans recalls.

On their second date, the couple visited a sick child and surprised him with his wish - a trip to Disney World.

A year later, they were engaged.

Now happily married with two daughters, the couple trains together and runs the triathlon “as a family tradition.”

Ms. Evans says she recommends doing charity work as a means to romance because “you can meet like-minded people, have meaningful conversations, and it’s not over a beer.”

Don’t tell former Miss District of Columbia and K Street Kate blogger Kate Michael that you can’t buy love. She met her boyfriend Rodrigo Garcia at a charity auction. What was on the block? A dance with Kate. Rodrigo said “Sold!” and a friendship and - ultimately - a romance was born.

“One of the reasons I love D.C. so much is that the city is so full of interesting and interested people. I’m so lucky that a common desire to help others helped me to find love,” Ms. Michael says.

Jess McCann, a dating coach and author of “You Lost Him at Hello,” agrees that going to charity events is a perfect way to meet a potential match.

“It’s an easy ice breaker,” she says. “That’s half the problem with meeting people at bars is that you don’t know what to say or how to start a conversation. At a charity event, you can ask someone how they got involved or what drew them to this cause.”

Cathy Alter, author of “Up for Renewal: What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex, and Starting Over,” says doing charity work can bring romantic karma, but you must choose your venues wisely.

“If you are doing things that are charitable, kind and generous, you will attract people into your life with the same values. The most important thing is to do things that you like to do. Don’t do things because you think you will attract a man.”

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