FOOD FOR THOUGHT – A Taste For Life Fundraiser In Support Of Pozitive Pathways
An upcoming event to look forward to, which is the talk of the town every year and in communities all across Canada, is a fundraiser supporting local AIDS service organizations, taking place Wednesday, April 19, 2023.
A culinary affair, this is . . . A Taste For Life.
Quite simply, selected restaurants in Windsor will have people dine-in with 25% of the proceeds going directly to the hosting agency in Windsor, Pozitive Pathways Community Services. Additionally, diners have the opportunity to donate privately at the table, if they wish.
This is a dining experience that supports programs and services for people affected by HIV or HCV (Hepatitis C Virus).
To quote Kevin Blondin, Community & Volunteer Engagement Coordinator with Pozitive Pathways: “How can you go wrong? You can spend a special evening in your favourite restaurants and they agree to donate a portion of the evening’s food and bar sales to support our programs and services. This will take place in more than 20+ cities nationwide.”
In particular, the event assists vulnerable people within the community. Some of the programs funded with Pozitive Pathways (formerly the AIDS Committee of Windsor) are support services, including case management, practical assistance, food and nutrition, social programming, education and outreach programs, and volunteer services.
“Pozitive Pathways is a registered charity that provides advocacy, support, harm reduction, health promotion and outreach services for people living with, affected by, or at risk of HIV, Hepatitis C Virus and other sexually transmitted blood-borne infections in the Windsor Essex region,” explains Blondin. (Refer to: PozitivePathways.com).
On location at any of the participating restaurants, volunteer taste greeters, act as hosts at the selected restaurants to offer information to diners who wish to support the cause for chances to win prizes. A QR code will also be handed out to diners who may wish to donate at a later time. All donations of $20 or more receive a tax receipt.
“Celebrating food for a cause, A Taste for Life also works with the selected restaurants to try to create some specialty items for the event,” Blondin states. “This increases traffic to the restaurants on event day, giving the public an opportunity to try something tasty and new.”
A Taste for Life started in Ottawa in 1999 as a joint effort of Bruce House and the Snowy Owl AIDS Foundation. The tradition now continues with Bruce House operating A Taste for Life, which has been joined by communities from across the country, including Windsor.
Two of the local restaurants that Pozitive Pathways has chosen to participate are Bally’s Kitchen and Piccolo’s Pizza & Pasta House, which are featured next in this article.
To begin with, when you require original Italian cuisine and top notch catering services, you need to get to Piccolo’s Pizza & Pasta House (2135 Tecumseh Road West, Windsor; PiccolosWindsor.com) proudly serving the region since November 18, 1989.
Owner/Operator Cindy Piccolo states: “We offer superb quality and enormous quantity to all our clients in the Windsor area.”
For 34 years Piccolo’s has been involved in every charity they can help out with, including donating gift cards, creating wonderful gift baskets for silent auction tables, setting up appetizer stations and going full force into charity catering, depending on the situation.
According to Piccolo: “A Taste For Life is an important fundraiser helping people in society who may have been forgotten about and require funding for many diseases, including HIV. This event goes directly into helping find cures for people who have viruses, and are still suffering.”
On April 19, Piccolo’s serves up a Taste Of Italy entrée with a combination of all their traditional bests, including Fettuccine Alfredo, Lasagna and a choice of Chicken or Veal Parmigiana, with either a Garden Salad or Soup, for $40 per person, with $20 from each dish donated back to Pozitive Pathways. No gift cards will be accepted on this day.
Known for their extravagant catering offerings too, in-house or outbound, they offer customizable menus with aesthetically pleasing presentations for special events, including corporate gatherings, weddings and birthdays and more.
With Windsor being known for outstanding pizza — whether wood fire, thin or thick crust — Piccolo’s has one of the best deep dish pizzas around. They also make traditional Windsor pizza.
As for authentic traditional Italian food at the restaurant, they serve it all, including Linguini Con Gamberetti, Crispy Chicken Caesar Tortellini, and Cheesy Cheddar Chicken.
“Let’s try to make April 19, 2023 a record breaking day for donations,” expresses Piccolo. “Everybody works so hard on this and we expect a big turnout to celebrate the cause.”
For a trip to the exotic and spicy if you want it, look no further than Bally’s Kitchen(157 Erie Street East, Windsor; BallysKitchen.ca), a Vietnamese and Thai cuisine restaurant established in July 2021.
Owner/Operators, Melly Ana and husband Budi Wibowo, offer authentic Southeast Asian cuisine with fresh ingredients, always tasty and unique in every way, making your meal memorable each time.
“With success at Bally’s as of late, we have been able to grow the business, surviving a renovation that provides for 28 additional seats,” Wibowo mentions.
Regarding the food, a full host of traditional fare includes the popular Singapore Laksa, a thin rice noodle dish with fish cake, tofu, bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro and shallots in Laksa broth.
Investigating even further you will find another familiar noodle favourite, the Pad Thai. Others are the Pho, a rice noodle soup and Pad See Ew, flat rice noodles with egg. And the beautifully prepared Indonesian Fried Rice also has an egg centre, surrounded by flavourful rice.
Melly Ana comments: “Our vision is to further expand the menu to include more traditional and authentic dishes from those regions. We will also have a special menu (a two-can-dine special only) for the big day (April 19).”
Bally’s is fully prepared, following health protocols with dine-in, and pickup and delivery waiting on your call.
As mentioned in an article a few years ago by Biz X Publisher Deborah Jones: “A Taste for Life is a wonderful opportunity to break bread with people in this incredibly generous community, show your support, and take part in a fun national fundraiser.”
At the time of writing, restaurants were still coming on board to support the cause for this year.
Three recent sign-ups are Mezzo Ristorante & Lounge, 804 Erie Street East; the Orient Restaurant, 5841 Malden Road and The Barbershop Bar, 2587 Howard Avenue.
For the updated list of participating restaurants go to: ATasteForlife.org/Windsor-Essex.
