Ottawa restaurants team with high school to feed vets
If you dine at certain restaurants over the next week-and-a-half, you will also be buying a veteran a meal.
De La Salle high school history teacher Mathieu Deshaies and his students have joined forces with local restaurants to support Operation Veteran, a charity that provides complimentary meals to veterans who visit the Canadian War Museum.
The fundraising campaign, which runs from Nov. 1 to Nov. 11 and is dubbed “11 restaurants 11 days,” will feature a different restaurant on each day that will donate the proceeds of sales (during certain hours) to Operation Veteran.
While working at De La Salle, Deshaies travelled to France with his students to teach them about the history of Vimy Ridge. After returning home a few years ago, they donated leftover money to Operation Veteran, which was founded in 2009 by Montreal dentist Paul Kavanagh in association with the Canadian War Museum.
The program has provided more than 12,300 complimentary meals to veterans visiting the museum since its inception.
The support continued when a student’s mother, the owner of Foolish Chicken on Holland Avenue, offered to do a one-day fundraiser at the restaurant to raise money for Operation Veteran.
“She’s been offering it up very generously every year,” said Deshaies, who is aiming to raise $3,000. “And this year I said, ‘ Well, let’s take it up a notch,’ and I thought why not involve 11 restaurants in 11 days to see if we can do better, and so far it has been working.”
The dates and restaurants include: Nov. 1 at Arturo’s Ristorante (all day); Nov. 4 at Coconut Lagoon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Nov. 6 at Sutherland Restaurant from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and Foolish Chicken, 5 p.m. until closing; Nov. 7 Arturo’s Ristorante (all day) and Burgers on Beechwood (all day); Nov. 8 at Arturo’s Ristorante (all day), Burgers on Beechwood (all day), and Beechwood Gastropub (all day); Nov. 9 the Clocktower Brew Pub on MacKay St. (all day); Nov. 11 at the Vimy Brewing Company (all day).