There are few people in the world who haven’t been affected by the cataclysmic events in Southeast Asia. Vancouver has a rich South Asian heritage, and it’s only fitting that citizens here are pitching in to help. This Thursday a group of restaurants is donating 25 percent of their lunch and dinner food receipts to the Red Cross. So make Thursday your day to go out for dinner and patronize the places listed in the following press release. Filling your belly will help provide food and shelter for those less fortunate.
WILD RICE SPEARHEADS RESTAURANTS FOR RELIEF
(Vancouver, BC) – “We just wanted to do something to help,” says Wild Rice co-owner Andrew Wong of his and partner Tom Poirier’s decision to raise money for the Tsunami Relief Fund. “We decided that the easiest way for us to help was to donate a portion of our receipts to the Canadian Red Cross,” says Poirier. “From there it was a matter of ‘who else can we include?’ We called a few friends and colleagues and quickly came up with nine other restaurants willing to participate. Everyone we called was enthusiastic about the idea and eager to get involved.”
Thursday, January 6, 2005 has been designated Restaurants for Relief day by the 12 participants with their donating 25% of their total food bills to disaster relief. “Thursday is generally a busy day in restaurants, so we are hoping to raise a significant amount, “ says Wong. The donation applies to the food portion of both lunch and dinner checks. “We’ll consolidate the donations and deliver it to the Red Cross on the next day.”
For one participant, Montri Rattanraj of Montri’s Thai Restaurant, the event has a special meaning. He had been visiting family in the south of Thailand and had only just left the country a few hours before the tsunami hit. Thankfully none of his family was affected by the disaster but he has friends and colleagues working in many of the resort hotels that have been destroyed.
Participants are:
Banana Leaf 820 W. Broadway 604.731.6333
Banana Leaf on Denman 1096 Denman Street 604.683.3333
Bistro Pastis 2153 W.4th Avenue 604.731.5020
Fiction 3162 W. Broadway 604.736.7576
Lucy Mae Brown 862 Richards St. 604.899.9199
Montri’s Thai Restaurant 3629 W. Broadway 604.738.9888
Rubina Tandoori 1962 Kingsway Avenue 604.874.3621
Tamarind 1626 W. Broadway 604.733.5335
Tangerine 1685 Yew St. 604.739.4677
Wild Rice 117 W. Pender 604.642.2882
