Mountain View restaurant offers free Thanksgiving meals every year
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (KRON) – A Thanksgiving meal isn’t the easiest thing for everyone to come by. Finances sometimes get in the way of being able to take part in the holiday. That’s why one restaurant owner in the South Bay has been providing free meals for more than three decades.
Mountain View restaurant Ristorante Don Giovanni offered Thanksgiving meals for free on Thursday and it’s something the owner has been doing for 35 years.
One after another, John Akkaya welcomed guests into Ristorante Don Giovanni Thursday, wishing them a happy Thanksgiving and then offering them a seat at the restaurant. There were no menus to hand out, because for 35 years the Thanksgiving meal has been pre-planned and served for free.
Bay Area Indigenous leaders to hold ‘Black Friday’ prayer walk by shellmounds
“It’s a beautiful feeling, a wonderful feeling,” Akkaya said. “You have a lot of people, they need a place to go they need a meal. A lot of my friends, my regular customers, they came to see me. It’s a very special day for us.”
Turkey, mashed potato, gravy, yams, peas, corn and cranberry sauce hit every table hot and ready to eat.
Akkaya says he was inspired to offer the free meals when he was working at a restaurant in Chicago 42 years ago.
“They were serving free Thanksgiving and I volunteered to serve, and I pledged to myself if one day I own my own restaurant I will do the same thing,” he said.
He’s kept true to that promise and there was nothing but gratitude from those who benefited. Rick Guerra has known Akkaya for as long as he’s offered the free meals, but this was the first Thanksgiving he got a chance to see it in action.
“Times are tough for a lot of people and just to see it even in good times or bad times, the fact that he’s been doing this so long out of the goodness of his heart, it just blows me away. It’s amazing,” he said.
Akkaya says everyone he encounters shows appreciation for the free meal on their way out. According to the owner, around 1,500 people came to the restaurant Thursday.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4.
