Pasta and pizza will be on the menu when Piva Modern Italian restaurant serves up a feast to those in need on Thanksgiving.
The local restaurant, located in Anvil Centre, is closing its doors on the afternoon of Sunday, Oct. 7 so it can serve a Thanksgiving lunch to homeless folks.
“Piva is going to be shutting down in the afternoon to serve people through the Lookout society,” said Kerilee Raven, Piva’s marketing coordinator. “We want to make sure we are giving back to New West. New West has been so supportive of us. Thanksgiving is a time of sharing and family, so we just wanted to make sure that everyone had a nice warm meal and were around people who cared about them.”
Raven said Piva is partnering with the Lookout society because it’s a fan of the society’s work.
“We are going to be doing pasta and pizza and salad,” Raven said. “We have asked Lookout society to send as many people as possible.”
Lookout is a non-profit charitable organization that offers a range of services and housing to adult men and women who are destitute and require assistance. In addition to a number of programs in New West, it operates in Vancouver, Surrey, the North Shore, Burnaby, Langley, Abbotsford, Mission and Maple Ridge.
Piva Modern Italian Restaurant opened in Anvil Centre in December 2017.
“It’s the first time we have been able to shut down the restaurant to serve, but we hve had quite a few charitable initiatives,” Raven said. “We have done cocktails where the proceeds have been donated to a couple of charities in the past.”
Jennifer Goyette, coordinator at Lookout’s Russell Housing Centre in New Westminster, said the society is extremely grateful that Piva has chosen to welcome Lookout guests for Thanksgiving dinner.
“Lookout is very excited to have the opportunity to partner with Piva. Without their support, it is unlikely that Lookout guests could afford to eat dinner and feel welcome in a nice restaurant,” said Goyette, who is working with Piva to organize the dinner on behalf of Lookout. “Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for family and abundance of food. This simply does not exist for many of the folks we serve; families are often estranged and healthy food is just too expensive. We expect over 100 Lookout guests will attend the Piva dinner. This will likely be one of the best meals they have had for a while!”
