Manhattan Restaurant Owner Has Been Feeding And Sheltering Homeless People Every Week

On East 53rd Street in Midtown Manhattan, a Turkish restaurant owner named Ali Riza Dogan has been doing something quietly extraordinary for years: every Wednesday night at eight o'clock, regardless of weather, he heads to Chinatown to personally serve warm meals of lamb, chicken, and Mediterranean sides to people experiencing homelessness, and on cold nights he keeps the doors of Ali Baba Mediterranean Cuisine open overnight with a sign that reads: You can stay inside, the heat is on. Dogan has a personal reason to care that most restaurant owners do not. He arrived in the United States from Ankara as a young man who spoke no English, became lost on one of his first nights, and slept in the hallway of an abandoned building because he could not find his way to his family. He calls it a very bad memory he has never forgotten, and says it is exactly why he opens his doors.

Dogan opened his first Ali Baba location in 1997 alongside his father after beginning his American life as a dishwasher, and the restaurant has since become known for the meals and quiet dignity it extends to anyone who needs them without condition. He put his philosophy simply in a post that circulated widely: one plate of food means one human life, and every meal at Ali Baba becomes a warm meal for someone in need. He said he does not see it as charity but as humanity, and the post drew responses from people as far as Canada offering to come serve food with him on a Wednesday. To many who have encountered his story, the handwritten sign in his window is the most understated possible expression of what one person can do when they decide they are not going to look away.

Source:https://www.today.com/food/people/nyc-restaurateur-offers-shelter-to-homeless-people-rcna331963