Puerto Vallarta offers free meal to Pocatello community

There are several free Thanksgiving meals happening around Idaho for families for the holiday. One of those was Puerto Vallarta in Pocatello.

Nick Garcia is the new owner of Puerto Vallarta. He bought the restaurant seven months ago. When he bought it, he told the previous owner he would carry on the tradition of a free Thanksgiving meal there.

So at 5 a.m. this morning, the restaurant’s kitchen was filled with loads of turkeys, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, yams and lots of pie.

Garcia said he wanted to continue doing the dinner because he wants everyone to have a place to go. He wants everyone in the community to have a chance for a warm meal and friendship.

“It makes me feel good because it’s not about us,” Garcia said. “It’s about them. And there’s a saying out there, it’s always good to pay it forward and that’s all it’s about.”

Those who came out for the dinner said it was delicious and a great idea.

“My thoughts on this dinner, it’s very nice and I really appreciate them doing it for the community especially those ones who can’t be with their family at the time,” said Julie Saenz, whose family had some RV trouble while traveling and they ended up in Pocatello for the holiday.

“It’s really nice because I think unity is really important for a community and I think just by doing this it kind of intertwines us again,” said Shayla Suyoto, whose favorite part of the dinner was the stuffing.

John Robinson, who is the pastor at Gate City Church where Garcia attends, said dinners like this are important for people because you never know who’s in need. And he said giving back and being kind is always the right thing to do.

“I can tell you there’s nothing that feels better than being able to help other people,” Robinson said. “We’ve all experienced it when people have helped us and how much it warms our hearts and I think the person who is doing the helping is actually more blessed than the ones that are helped. It just makes you feel good.”

People at the dinner said no matter their situation or reason for coming, they were just glad to have a place to go.

Garcia said the restaurant planned for 250 meals. The cost was a little more than $1,000. He said some of the food and money was donated by groups in the community and he’s very grateful to everyone that contributed to the dinner.

Garcia said if there were any leftovers after the meal, all of the food would be given to the Salvation Army.