One Michigan restaurant is very much in the giving spirit: Its owner has pledged to serve free Thanksgiving meals on Thursday, all day, to anyone who needs a hot meal.
George’s Senate Coney Island Restaurant in Northville, in the Detro metro area, is offering a free Thanksgiving dinner to people who find themselves dining alone.
That may include many people without a roof over their heads. In metropolitan Detroit, some 35,000 people are homeless right now, according to the Campaign to End Homelessness.
Owner George Dimopoulos, originally from Greece, has been in the “giving habit” for the past 10 years and has served dozens of solitary diners each year around this time.
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A sign in his window right now reads:
“George’s Thanksgiving Day Dinner. If anyone is home alone, come eat with us for free! All day. Thurs. November 26.”
Dimopoulos claims a personal reason for his uncommon generosity. “I was alone one time. I remember the good times and bad times,” he told ABC News. He moved to the U.S. at age 23, and in 2002 opened his Northville restaurant, which has additional locations.
Dimopoulos’s generous Thanksgiving offer has lit up the Internet, but he says he is understanding and flexible about his offer. “My regular customers like what I do,” he told ABC News. “It’s actually all year round if people ask. Eighty people came in for Easter this year for both American and Greek Easter.”
It is compassion at work, pure and simple, not a crass, dollars-and-sense mindset.
“I lose a little bit, but I feel good to help them. I hope the whole country gives back. People really appreciate it,” he said, adding, “I don’t question people when they ask for food. If they are alone, I give it to them anyway. I can see the way they look. Not many people go out by themselves.”
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