When Meeru Dhalwala, co-owner of Vij’s, was faced with drastically tanking sales, even at one of the restaurants with the hardest seats to nail in the city, she racked her brain for “pivots” and had a vivid memory of how hard it was for her parents in the winter of 1969 when they first moved from Delhi to Washington, DC. They didn’t have the resources to dine out in local restaurants, nor the experience with different cuisines and menus.
Dhalwala sits on the board of MOSAIC, a B.C. organization that helps newcomers build their lives and settle into Canadian society, and she suddenly realized that she could help ease the pent-up stress of new immigrant families and help us restaurants gain some revenues all at the same time. The MOSAIC + local restaurant project was created to help restaurants stay afloat through winter of COVID-19 by sharing the fun and adventure of their cuisines with new immigrant/refugee families. Dhalwala recruited four other local restaurants along with Vij’s that share the same ethics and place the same importance on staff well-being as her own and are also led by women in various capacities. They are all now selling gift certificates dedicated to MOSAIC families. You can choose your preferred restaurant(s) and lend a hand to our local restaurant scene and welcome new families all at the same time:
Vij’s
Ubuntu
Burdock and Co/Community Harvest
Autostrada
Acorn
Imagine the first time you dined at a restaurant in a new country or even a new city, especially if you were unfamiliar with the cuisine. Can you help make this happen for newcomers to Vancouver who don’t have any disposable income?
To support your restaurant(s) of choice, please go to their website and click the MOSAIC gift certificate option. If you want to donate directly to MOSAIC to support their programs for children and families, youth, and seniors, visit www.mosaicbc.org. —Cassandra Anderton
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