The Benton Harbor Salvation Army and Tosi’s Restaurant of Stevensville continued a 60-year holiday tradtion this week when Tosi’s hosted Benton Harbor area families to bring a Merry Christmas to members of the community in need. Tosi’s Restaurant provided holiday meals and Christmas music to everyone in attendance. The Benton Harbor Salvation Army provided Christmas presents to over 180 kids ranging from infants to older teens. Toys for Tots helped provide toys and the St. Joseph Lions Club pitched in with volunteers to wrap gifts.
Left to right : Volunteers Pastor Jay Hanes, Dian Young, Santa Clause, Bernice Mason, Salvation Army Officer Melissa Lynne and Salvation Army Lieutenant Mario Bledsoe.
The Benton Harbor Salvation Army tradition at Tosi’s spans back for over 60 years. However, due to Covid the past 2 years, the event has been canceled.
Dan & Lori McCrey are the owners of Tosi’s and wanted to be sure that this tradition continued, as Dan explained:
“We wanted to carry on the tradition because this is our 63rd or 64th year doing this at the restaurant at Tosi’s so we wanted to help carry on the tradition and to make sure that our community is feeling good. This has always been something that has been very special to us, this is me and my wifes 33rd and 36th year here so this is what we grew up doing so I don’t know any different than to try and give back and provide to make sure all these kids leave with a smile on their face. We are proud to provide this Christmas experience for a lot of these young men and women because we know that this is the only one that some of them may see, so we are honored here at Tosi’s to make sure that happens for the community.”
By Nicholas Gunn, MOTM Contributor
