Hundreds of gift cards for local restaurants have been handed out to Windsor-Essex healthcare workers crossing the border for work.
In partnership with the City of Windsor, the U.S. Consulate in Toronto handed out 900 gift cards to area healthcare workers to express appreciation for their service to American citizens at Detroit area hospitals.
Consul General Greg Stanford says he got the sense people were pleased to received the small token of appreciation.
“It's amazing that we live in such an interconnected world,” he says. “I had an e-mail from a colleague of mine who is stationed in Kingston, Jamaica and her niece is one of these frontline healthcare workers. She emailed me immediately because her niece had contacted her in Kingston, Jamaica and had forwarded her a scanned copy of the letter that we had sent out thanking them and that she was touched by it."
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens was also at the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel on Tuesday to hand out gift cards and says the initiative was also a great boost for nine local restaurants.
“I know the consul general and his team worked with staff at the city to identify some of the restaurants. They did that and they went to each of these restaurants and purchased gift cards, so the recipients are getting a unique gift card to one of nine different locations in the City of Windsor and I know each and every one of those restaurants are independently owned, they're not part of a chain."
Participating restaurants include Hikari Restaurant, Grand Cantina, Eddy’s Bistro, Olde School Deli, Kildare House, Spago, Gilligan’s, Thai Palace Restaurant, and Arcata Pizzeria.
Volunteers including Mayor Dilkens and Consul General Stanford were at the tunnel handing out the gift cards from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. and the Ambassador Bridge from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. .
— With files from AM800's Teresinha Medeiros