Abbotsford’s Mandarin Garden Buffet is looking to give a helping hand and dish to those in Abbotsford who are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The restaurant, located at #101 31546 South Fraser Way, recently announced that they will be offering free chow mein or fried race to families or individuals in the community who are struggling financially to provide food for themselves and their family.

Owner/operator Cara Truong stated that there is no purchase necessary for the free item.

“We will be offering the free dishes until April 30 and depending on how the economy is we will then decide whether to keep the free offer going to support our community members,” she told The News.

Cara and her husband Troy have owned the establishment since October 2006 and she said over last 13 years that the Abbotsford community has always been there for them and they have enjoyed being involved in local events.

However, she said back in May of 2014 she received the terrible news that she had a rare form of leukemia known as the “Philadelphia Chromosome” and for the last few years she has struggled to return to the good health she is now in. She said she is now in a better position to help the community.

“When COVID-19 became a pandemic and many were laid off, we immediately created a Facebook page and posted free food to help our community,” she said. “Since our page was freshly created not enough word was getting out to the public. After several days of offering free food, we had closed our doors for five days so that we could work on creating a new lunch special combo that would be more affordable to everyone, come up with a free food option that we can continually supply for a longer period of time and also clean and sanitize our restaurant so the public could feel safe ordering food from us when we re-open.

We are hoping that other local businesses will take our approach in this time of crisis and give back to the community in whichever way they can because without each other’s support we will all struggle alone through this pandemic. Only as a united community who help and support one another can we get through this.”

The restaurant is also available for delivery and take-out on Friday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

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