Timmins is home to a small community of Canadian Filipinos.
In the 2016 Census, Statistics Canada counted 135 people of Filipino descent in the northeastern Ontario city, which has a total population of less than 42,000.
The Canadian Filipino community may be small, but one member has been noted by the online-only TimminsToday publication for having a big heart.
Her name is Estela Aguilar Chow, owner of Lady Luck Restaurant and Buffet in Downtown Timmins.
“Estela Chow is hoping to have Lady Luck on her side as she ventures into Timmins’ restaurant scene,” the publication reported. “She is definitely generating good karma by always looking to help others less fortunate.”
Lady Luck Restaurant and Buffet offers Filipino and Canadian dishes, and by the end of the day, Chow donates whatever is left to two organizations helping the homeless in Timmins.
As TimminsToday reported, she makes sure no food goes to waste.
“Whatever is left on our buffet table at the end of the day is donated to Living Space and the Good Samaritan Inn,” Chow said.” Where I grew up, my family back home is a middle-class family, and we always helped people. My heart always goes out to people in need. I’m not a rich person but my heart is big in terms of that. I don’t like to waste food.”
“Why waste food if you can donate it to people who need it?” Chow asked. “And in our community, there’s a lot. If only all the restaurants follow what I’m doing, maybe it can help with the burden to help these people rather than throw it in the garbage.”
According to TimminsToday, Chow also helps others back in the Philippines and here at home get new clothing.
“Since I came to Canada, every time I go home we do a feeding program there and give clothing to people in need,” Chow said. “I have Giant Tiger (on Riverside Drive) helping me out. Summer clothes, I ship it back home. Winter clothes, they stay here and we give it to people in need.”
According to TimminsToday, Chow came to the city in1991.
To read the publication’s full story: https://www.timminstoday.com/whats-up-wednesday/no-food-goes-to-waste-at-this-buffet-3-photos-1586484
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