So this amazing, wonderful thing happened.
A wealthy Ohio developer decided to take 50 of Akron’s homeless to a gourmet four-course meal for his 42nd birthday.
Wait. Is this the real Santa?
Joel Testa, a developer and co-owner of a four-star Akron restaurant, asked his family and friends to raise money for the homeless instead of giving him gifts for his forty-second birthday.
“Generally, people are afraid of the homeless,” Testa told the Akron Beacon Journal. “The homeless are not lepers. Homelessness can happen to anyone.”
Testa told reporters that he used the donations he received for his birthday to offset the cost of the dinner, which included spinach quiche salad, potato leek soup, braised beef short ribs and a chocolate mousse desert. According to the Journal, diners were offered seconds and takeout bags with leftovers.
That wasn’t all the group received this holiday season. Testa’s daughter got in on the good deed, knitting scarves for the diners and handing them out at dinner.
But Testa understands that scarves and dinner won’t do anything to put a dent in the problems the estimated 800 homeless people in Akron face. He is currently developing a 60-unit apartment building exclusively reserved for veterans, homeless, and disabled people.
Talk about a little positivity!
SOURCE: Gawker | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
