Have you heard of LUSO Charitable Canadian Society?

Written By Naguib Kerba

Senator Victor Oh, and Ken Choi, Owner of Summit Gardens Chinese Restaurant

May 2024

Neither did I four months ago. Here’s the compelling story.

Every year, Ken Choi, the owner of the Summit Gardens Restaurant, celebrates the restaurant’s anniversary by putting on a Chinese feast and donating proceeds to a different small charity that needs exposure. I’ve been to four of these beautiful events. I have been a corporate sponsor in three of them. Ken Choi, who is fast becoming a great friend, asked me if I would be interested in being on the fundraising committee for his upcoming annual charitable dinner. Other committee members would be Dan Bodanis and Amy Tjen, both good friends and familiar to me. I accepted the offer and immediately committed to sponsoring two tables. It would be a great night as Dan Bodanis and the Dan Bodanis Big Band would also participate as they have for years.

Initially, there was no charity in mind. That all changed; we bypassed the vetting process when Amy approached Ken about donating to one of Hazel McCallion’s favourite charities, LUSO Charitable Canadian Society. We still needed to meet with them and confirm that was the charity we would support. January 30th will be our first meeting; we will meet representatives of LUSO, Heather Brand, Cristina Marques, and Lee-Ann Marquez. It was a “fait accompli”. They were professional, accommodating and highly willing participants. A site inspection in the Mississauga office would be next. We subsequently visited the Mississauga site and were entirely overcome by a mission to support these fantastic Angels.

Committee meetings were easy to attend; they were always at Summit Gardens and invariably included a luncheon…I’m sure I gained five pounds taking in these meetings. Before long, I called these meetings tasting sessions; it was easy work.

Let’s talk about LUSO

After seeing the Mississauga facility, I was all in. These volunteers are indeed angels. The facility was incredible. They had classes in art, music and various other engaging programs. There was a library as well. The goal will eventually be to add more overnight facilities to accommodate clients. Additionally, in the Mississauga Support Centre there was an incredible rooftop patio where there were raised planters to accommodate wheel chairs.

I typically donate an all-inclusive photo workshop in Algonquin

Here is the YouTube video of the event on May 15, 2024.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl1gB10QF7k

This is the link to the LUSO website version, pictures and sponsors

https://lusoccs.org/events/a-life-of-purposedinner/

Naguib Kerba