Charity begins at home—with schools and Sake
Published 5:06 pm Saturday, September 23, 2017
- Lorenzo Salinas/The News The Nguyen families, Sake staff and school officials and representatives from Port Arthur, Nederland and Port Neches-Groves school districts stand outside the Sake restaurant on 9th Avenue after school officials were given donation checks by the restaurant and owners.
By Lorenzo Salinas
A local business proved that true charity begins at home, as it made a generous donation to the school districts in the greater Port Arthur area.
Sake Sushi Bar and Lounge donated $16,000 to the Port Arthur, Nederland and Port Neches-Groves Independent School Districts Saturday at its location on 9th Avenue. According to its co-owners, it was their way of helping out where they could.
“We helped because of the disaster. A lot of families were affected,” Phe Nguyen, co-owner, said.
Nguyen said that he and his brother, co-owner Binh, realized they couldn’t help everyone, so they wanted to focus their efforts on some of the youngest members of the community, the students.
“We teamed up with my sister in Dallas, Kimberly Vo. She’s a broker,” Nguyen said. “She was able to raise over $8,000.”
Of course, Nguyen and staff at Sake did more than just raise money; they donated their time and food to those affected by Harvey.
Nguyen said during their first week back, Sake ran a promotion where 50 percent of proceeds went to help those in need. Then, there was the food.
“We cooked 5,000 free meals for first responders and shelters,” Nguyen said. “It’s something we had to do.”
Originally, those meals consisted of items from Sake’s menu like chicken, vegetables and rice. However, after two days of cooking and donating 3,000 meals, they ran out of their staples and had to rely on hot dogs and French fries for their next 2,000 meals.
“I have never cooked so much fried rice in my life,” Nguyen said with a laugh.
The brothers raised over $7,000 through their restaurant with several patrons donating from their own pockets to raise an extra $900 for the school districts.
“It would hopefully help the schools and help the students out,” Nguyen said.
“We’re just really happy that the community has come together to help,” Mark Porterie, PAISD superintendent, said. He, along with other school officials or representatives, were on hand to accept the checks from Nguyen.
“Of course it means a lot when people outside of the community decide to donate and help, but it means more somehow when that help is coming from within the community,” Porterie said.
“I’m just really happy Binh and Phe and Kimberly felt enough to donate to the community.”
The restaurant donated the following to the three school districts: $7,000 to Port Arthur Independent School District; $5,000 to Port Neches-Groves ISD; and $4,000 to Nederland ISD, specifically $1,000 each to Hillcrest, Highland Park, Helena Park and Langham Elementary Schools.
