De Dutch New Westminster is breaking tradition and opening for dinner – for a good cause.
The owners of the restaurant in Columbia Square are having a fundraiser for the Columbia Street fire relief fund on Friday, Jan. 17 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and include a buffet dinner. Other donations will also be accepted for the fund.
“One hundred per cent of the ticket price will go straight to the fire relief fund,” said owner Marie Jang.
As the flames raged in two buildings on Columbia Street in October, Jang offered to provide food to firefighters on scene but was told they had been taken care of.
While Jang was wondering how she could help, she received an email from the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce and contacted executive director Cori Lynn Germiquet.
“We came up with the idea for a benefit dinner,” she said. “Secondly, she had one lady who desperately needed a job right away. I hired her. This lady didn’t have insurance at all. To be in that position is very scary.”
Jang has recruited Mark Donnelly,who is known as Mr. Canuck for his longtime role of singing the national anthem at Canucks hockey games, to attend Friday’s fundraiser.
“He helped me open my restaurant when we first opened,” she noted. “He is going to be a guest of honour.”
Anyone wishing to attend (a limited number of tickets are available) can call 604-521-2288 or 604-540-9328.
Snag a bag to help fire relief
B2B NOW has raised more than $5,000 for the New Westminster fire relief fund.
The Business-to-Business Network of Women has been selling reusable shopping bags that include a photograph of the buildings destroyed in the October 2013 fire.
One hundred per cent of the proceeds from the sales of 1,000 bags will be donated to the fire relief fund.
As of Jan. 12, only 82 bags were left for sale and the campaign had raised $5,298.70. The #shopnewwest bags can be purchased at Scotiabank locations in uptown and downtown New Westminster and at Westminster Savings in uptown New West – while they last.
Do you have an item for Around Town? Send ideas to Theresa, [email protected]. You can also find her on Twitter, @TheresaMcManus.
