“Today the City of Richmond shined for its generosity and compassion”

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RICHMOND — The owner of Salute e Vita Ristorante has made a large pre-Thanksgiving donation to help victims of the recent North Bay Wine Country fires, Mayor Tom Butt announced on his E-Forum.

The $25,000 gift by Menbere “Menbe” Aklilu to the Northern California Fire Fund includes the entire sales proceeds on Oct. 27 at her Italian restaurant scenically located at Marina Bay.

A photo on Salute’s Facebook page shows Aklilu presenting a check on Monday to Napa’s fire chief and police chief. Another photo shows Aklilu with Napa Mayor Jill Techel.

“Today the City of Richmond shined for its generosity and compassion,” a post accompanying the photos reads. “We can’t thank you enough for the outpouring of love.”

The restaurant also collected a large amount of food donations from the community that were delivered to the Redwood Empire Food Bank and two evacuation centers in Petaluma.

A “Friday for Houston” dining event in September raised more than $13,000 to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

Generosity and compassion have been staples of Salute’s menu under Aklilu’s ownership. An immigrant from Ethiopia who had once been homeless and who started at Salute as a hostess before working her way up to maitre d’ and eventually owner, Aklilu has fed many hundreds of people for free at her annual Thanksgiving dinner for homeless and other economically disadvantaged people, a tradition she launched in 2011.

On Nov. 9 Aklilu was one of the honorees at the seventh annual East Bay Philanthropy Awards presented by the East Bay Leadership Council.

The restaurant has hosted other charitable events, including a Mother’s Day Brunch in May for families of victims of domestic and gun violence.

This year’s Thanksgiving feast will be on Nov. 23. Information about the event, and how to volunteer or make a donation, is available here.