The owner of a popular Windsor restaurant is giving himself a birthday gift by giving back to the community.
Mazaar co-owner Imad Najjar and several of his family members served lunch at the Downtown Mission on Wednesday afternoon.
They brought specially made meals from the restaurant to treat the people at the mission.
"At the end of the day the joy of giving is the biggest joy you could have," says Najir. "So I decided this year with my brothers that we're going to serve the community with a little token back for the people that need it most and it will make us more happy than just cutting a cake at home or having a big champagne party."
He says it's a great feeling knowing the people will have at least one good meal, adding "Obviously I'm not saying because it's prepared at our restaurant but I made sure the chef would prepare in a good way. because I wanted to give something that's not something standards, steamed or all that."
Najjar hopes his young nephew who helped serve the lunches learns a lesson from his participation.
"I want him to come see that life is tough out there," he says. "Come do good and learn how to do good and be part of the community at large because there are some people we don't know their pain and if we feel it our life will become better."
Najjar brought 200 meals from Mazaar for the lunch at the Downtown Mission on Victoria Street.
He says he may be a successful entrepreneur now, but he remembers sleeping on just a blanket when he first came to Canada 30 years ago.