Edmonton pizza shop giving back to community for Thanksgiving

A pizza shop in northwest Edmonton has found a way to give back while making sure none of its fresh food goes to waste. The initiative started this weekend, but the giving will last all year long.

Azhar Khan takes his business name — All Hours Pizza and Donair — literally, taking orders until 4 a.m., seven days a week. But early morning deliveries don’t always go as planned.

“Usually, late at night after 2 a.m. when people had a little too much alcohol or something, you go to the door (and) they don’t open, so we have a lot of food that comes back to us,” he said.

Instead of throwing the fresh pizzas away, in the spirit of giving, Khan came up with a solution: donating the forgotten orders to Hope Mission.

“We just starting it this Thanksgiving weekend and we’re going to implement it for the whole year and just continue on,” he said. “If people want to call in and they need help, they need a slice or whatever you need, just help out.”

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Hope Mission provides over 1,000 meals a day and told Global News that this past summer, the need increased.

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“We just have more people experiencing homelessness in our city right now, so that’s a big part of the challenge that we face. There’s a lot of people struggling right now,” said Tim Pasma, senior manager of homeless programs at Hope Mission.

Khan said he wants to help. He estimates with the amount of cancelled food his shop has each day, he could donate more than 20 pizzas a week, which led the store to contact the non-profit.

“They loved the idea actually,” he said. “I went to drop it off the other day and it was like, ‘Wow, it’s mind-boggling how many people that need help.’

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“Lots of people are struggling in this economy right now with the food costs and everything, so I just wanted to do something for the community.”

Khan said it is especially tough around Thanksgiving and that people who don’t cancel or forget their orders can also help out online.

“If you place an order online at checkout … (there will be a) pay-it-forward (option) where you can donate a slice,” he said. “Once a week, whatever we get in donation, we’ll make a pizza and give it to Hope Mission.”