Giving goes on throughout the year and even the smallest contributions can add up to a lot of giving at Christmastime.
Randall Stasiuk, a regular customer at Riot Brewing Co., brought in a crock pot of different meals to the brewery on Sunday afternoons the last couple of months. The food was available by donation to customers, with all proceeds going to charity.
Stasiuk paid for all the food to make the meals out of his own pocket.
He’s been saving up all the donation money and, in the end, it was enough to purchase 40 turkeys.
The turkeys will be going to the Cowichan Neighbourhood House in Chemainus to help out those families in need this holiday season. That’s especially important this year, with many workers affected by the strike at Western Forest Products mills, including the Chemainus sawmill, experiencing hard times.
Two turkeys were also donated to the Chemainus Legion for its annual Christmas dinner.
Chrissy Kemppi of the Neighbourhood House and the Legion’s Len Lavender were both at the brewery Wednesday to accept the turkeys.
Stasiuk obviously feels very good about being able to do this and cited a well-known phrase from Coretta Scott King that “the greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.”
“The community as a whole is very giving that way,” he said. “It makes Chemainus very special.”