Turkey giveaway at The Downtown Mission

A local business owner continued his tradition of kicking off the season of giving by passing out free turkeys The Downtown Mission on Oct. 8.

Andy Jun, owner of RENU Kitchen, has been donating the Thanksgiving turkeys to the Mission for the past three years. On Saturday morning Jun, along with the help of Dark Granit Inc. and over a dozen community volunteers, gave out 120 turkeys to local families. Many of the families who received turkeys this year were Syrian refugees and new to the city of Windsor.

Ron Dunn, CEO and Executive Director of the Mission, says he looks forward to the event every year, but especially this year, as many of the recipients were celebrating their first Thanksgiving in Canada.

“Thanksgiving is a special time and this is the best thing we can do to help people in the community,” said Dunn. “Everyone deserves a good Thanksgiving.”

With the recent arrival of many Syrian refugees, Jun decided to allocate 100 turkeys specifically for these families. He did this because he understands the challenges that come with being a new Canadian: Jun was born in Guangdong Province, China and lived in Portugal and Hong Kong with his siblings before immigrating to Windsor in 1969.

“I came here from Hong Kong years ago, so I know it can be hard,” said Jun.

Emily LaForet volunteered at the giveaway and is also a friend of the Jun family. She says that Jun always tries his best to help out everyone in the community.

“He is beyond the nicest and most generous person on the planet. He doesn’t have to do this and he does. That just shows the kind of person that he is,” said LaForet.

Jun says he is hoping to continue this turkey giveaway and to turn it into a yearly tradition.

“I am fortunate and I have been successful, so I like to give back when I can,” said Jun.

The Downtown Mission is a not-for-profit organization and does not receive any government funding. The group is fully dependent on the community and people like Jun to keep their programs running.

“Everything we do is at the will of the community so we welcome anybody who wants to get involved,” said Dunn.

Along with the turkeys, families were also given fruits, vegetables and gravy to complete their Thanksgiving meals. The event began at 10 am and the last turkey was handed out before 11:30 am.