This restaurant’s note to customers is making our eyes all watery
The holidays are one of our favorite times of the year—from spending time with friends and family, cooking our favorite traditional meals, and watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special—there’s a certain magic to the holiday season. And with all our hectic schedules, buying presents, and bundling up for the snow, we also try to spend time helping those in need during the holidays. While some of us donate time, money, or goods to the less fortunate—one restaurant in Michigan decided to go a step further by offering free Thanksgiving dinner to anyone spending it alone.
There’s a sign posted inside the window of George’s Senate Coney Island Restaurant in Northville, Mich., saying that anyone wanting to come have a meal on Thanksgiving can do so for free.
The owner of the restaurant, George Dimopoulos, has been inviting patrons from all walks of life to come share a free Thanksgiving meal for the past 10 years. He does it not only out of the kindness of his heart, but also because he remembers what it’s like to have no one during the holidays—as a native of Greece, “I do for the people who don’t have anybody home,” Dimoupolos said, “one time I was alone. One time I didn’t have food. Somebody did it for me.”
Dimoupolos moved to Detroit as a preteen because he had family there, but his roots in cooking were already strong, “I don’t have an education; I worked in a factory in Greece,” he told USA Today, “I knew how to cook a lot of foods before I came here.” His passion for cooking led him to open his successful Detroit-area restaurant. And this Thursday, the place will be a haven for those wishing to enjoy delicious food and conversation, as they’ll have room for roughly 100 people in addition to the diners expected to come in for paid meals.
How much does he usually spend on these feasts? This year, Dimoupolos spent $5,000 on 100 turkeys, side dishes and desserts. There will be sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, apple and pumpkin pie. Every year, the crowd usually ranges 70 to 100 people. Dimoupolos says they come from all sorts of circumstances, from people who have no family, to people who are homeless.
We salute you, Mr. Dimoupolos, and think that we all should take more time this holiday season to give a little more of our time and resources not just to the needy, but also to those of us that might be alone on a holiday. It happens more than you think (college students, those of us that can’t fly home or leave our jobs, etc.), and it’s all about those little acts of kindness that keep us all close and in the spirit of the holidays that we love so much.
(Image via imgur)
