OHSWEKEN – On Chiefswood Road in between First and Second Line, the Two Arrows Restaurant will be opening its doors to the community to enjoy a free community dinner on Thursday, Feb. 25.
The dinner is sponsored by The Men’s Fire and will include roast beef, potatoes, veggies, beverages and desserts for everyone to enjoy.
Member of the Men’s Fire, Bill Monture, explained that the dinner is definitely not for profit.
“We have a lot of people that want to donate and we just say ‘if you want to donate something, bring a pie or cookies, bring something that you would want to bring,” he said. “The other day I had a gentlemen come in and he wanted to give me $60, I said ‘no, bring a pie or something.”
Monture then explained that he “doesn’t keep track” of how many dinners they’ve hosted, as it’s well worth knowing they’ve given back to the community.
“My greatest enjoyment is seeing the little ones and family coming together and talking and visiting with one another,” said Monture. “That’s what it creates and that’s what we like to see, and it’s for everybody,” he said. “This is what we can bring to our community and it’s nice, I like doing it, they like doing it,” he said as he motioned to other members of the Men’s Fire.
“This is our second year, and the last one we had was before Christmas,” he said. “We had turkey and everything, but it only lasted about an hour and a half. The place was packed and it was shoulder to shoulder and people had to park on the road,” he said with a smile.
“It’s just something that we can do to give back to our people, to help out in any way we can,” he said, mentioning that the Men’s Fire donated a large sum to the Community Food Bank in December to help as well.
Another member of the Men’s Fire, Lester Green, explained that his favourite part of the dinners is the family connection they create for the elders.
“I like watching the older people come in because they all kind of go to one table and you can always hear them laughing,” said Green. “So that’s the other benefit of it too, is that our elders are able to get out and enjoy dinner with more than just themselves, because a lot of them are single or widowed, or their children have moved out. It’s just nice to see that family environment there for them,” he said.
The dinner will likely be just as large as the last and all are welcome to either donate (a pie or something) or simply come and enjoy.
