SAULT STE. MARIE -- Shortly after schools were shut down due to COVID-19, Angela Caputo, a chef and restaurant owner in Sault Ste. Marie, started her “feed the children” program.
For the next three months, she made and delivered 3,000 lunches for children in geared-to-income housing.
Her selfless volunteer work has since caught the eye of Ingrid Atkinson with TD Canada Trust.
"It was such a moving story and such a courageous thing for her to do facing the COVID and the uncertainty of her own business but I just couldn’t help but nominate her," said Atkinson.
This is the sixth year that TD Canada Trust has run its “TD Thanks You” contest.
This year, the financial institute chose six winners across North America for giving back to their communities.
"Despite the great uncertainties that we are all faced with, there are many people out there that are so amazing and going above and beyond to solve the problems that we are facing in our communities," said Marcie Nowlan, a TD Canada Trust branch manager in Sault Ste. Marie.
Angela Caputo was one of six winners across the continent.
TD Canada Trust surprised her with a brand new patio set for her restaurant complete with custom made picnic tables, chairs, lighting and outdoor heaters.
The surprise came when a massive truck pulled up with “TD Thanks You Angela” written on the side of it.
"I was bamboozled. I got bamboozled. My reaction at first was I was shocked, I was very overwhelmed, there were a lot of tears," said Caputo.
While Caputo was overwhelmed with the award and recognition she says she didn’t start up the "Feed the Children" program for it.
"Yes all this physical stuff is really lovely but I think if we were able to just make an impact on one kid who will think about helping somebody in the future, we’ve done more than enough."
The new patio set and heaters will allow Caputo to keep her outside seating section open for an estimated extra month each year.
