Spirit of giving continues in Windsor with Christmas dinner giveaways

As a holiday tradition comes to an end, new charitable efforts will begin in its place as other annual events for those less fortunate continue to evolve.

Mikhail Holdings held it’s final annual one-day turkey dinner giveaway in downtown Windsor Wednesday morning after 19 years, with co-owner Lou Mikhail indicating the plan is to redistribute meal package donations directly to organizations that help people in need year round.

“Being able to give to charity and having the opportunity to be charitable is a gift from God,” said Mikhail.

“We’re going to move on next year to a different style,” he explained. “We're going to target charities and we're gonna supply maybe even twice a year at Easter and possibly at Christmas to charities and we’ll deliver the same amount of food and probably even more to them and they will distribute it to them, to people that they believe are in need.”

Mikhail said the cost of a turkey has doubled since last year, noting 500 were distributed at this year’s event and that other food items were donated by the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers and Bonduelle.

“We're trying to do more for the community because the needs are increasing almost every year and it's not just people that are without jobs,” he said. “These are people that, with inflation and the cost of food, you know, they're working, they're both working and they can’t afford a good meal, that group has really expanded and there’s nothing wrong with needing something when you’re doing your best.”

Meanwhile, organizers for another annual Christmas dinner giveaway that also took place Wednesday are looking ahead after distributing more meals than any year prior.

Greg Lemay and Macro Foods 6th Annual Christmas Dinners prep at Macro Foods on Wyandotte Street East in Windsor, Ont. on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

The sixth annual Greg Lemay and Macro Foods Christmas Dinner Giveaway saw 1,500 vacuum sealed meals donated and delivered across Windsor-Essex thanks to a troupe of volunteers and other community groups.

“Anytime you can help somebody have a meal or do something good in a community you should do it if you have the ability to do it,” Lemay told CTV News.

“A lot of folks are calling, I think they're in a position where they're either paying rent or they're eating, which is not where we want to be,” Lemay said after admitting he wasn’t sure if this year’s event would take place. “This is an event or initiative that we want to see shrink, not grow. But obviously, numbers keep going up.”

“Every single city has the same problem. You can see it through their core, their downtown, whether it's homelessness, folks, you could see them hurting whether it’s tent cities all set up across the province. A lot of people they focus on downtown Windsor and say it’s a Windsor problem. It is not. It’s a country if not world's problem.”

“To be honest, it's sad to hear that demand is up, but at least we're doing what we can,” said Macro Foods co-owner Omar Abousaid.

“It is our duty to kind of give back to the community. We've evolved and the community's been nothing but helpful to us. So the least we can do is kind of give back so we're happy to do so.”

According to Abousaid, Macro Foods is looking to open a donation company in the New Year, prepared to donate a portion of monthly sales back to the communities they’ve expanded in.

“We're trying to kind of space out in every city that we're in to give back everywhere,” Abousaid said. “So every city that we're in, we're going to be giving back a portion of our sales on a monthly basis to our community and every city that we're in. So currently right now we're in Windsor-Essex, Chatham, London. Waterloo, but we are opening in Sarnia as we speak, and we are opening in South Windsor around Dougall.”

“We couldn't do it without the community. So the least we can do is kind of give back.”