CONWAY (KATV) — Instead of spending Thanksgiving at home, Verona Italian Restaurant employees will be giving back to the Conway community by serving free meals.
The restaurant’s owner, Albina Shala, said anyone who cannot be with their family for the holiday or cannot afford to prepare a Thanksgiving meal will be able to get free pasta and salad Thanksgiving Day.
“We are from Europe, so we do not have our family close by,” said Shala. “That makes us understand what other people can go through during the holidays. So, we want to give back and be a part of their family, and that helps us too.”
PattiCakes Bakery in Conway also got involved with the community giveaway, donating desserts.
This will be the restaurant’s fifth year opening its doors to the public on Thanksgiving and offering free meals.
Shala said she gives her employees time off to go see their families for the holiday and brings in her own family to serve the meals.
She said they will continue to give back at Verona because, at one point in time, the community gave back to their restaurant.
“Starting here, we did not know how Conway was going to react to us opening a business,” said Shala. “We got so much support in the first year, but then COVID-19 hit and we thought we were going to shutdown, but the whole community got together to support small businesses and we did so good. So now, this is like one of the little things we can do to give back, and not just that but every month we try to pick up a place that we can donate food.”
The restaurant will pass out meals from 1-3 p.m. on November 23 and it is located at 190 Skyline Dr. in Conway.