Pleasanton Restauranteur Feeds 250 People Per Week Through Open Heart Kitchen

By Joanne Hall

In late 2011, Moina Shaiq decided the growing need for nutritious and delicious food would require her help.

As a result, Shaiq became a regular donor to Open Heart Kitchen, the Tri-Valley’s only free hot meal service of its kind.

As the owner of Anakarlee Restaurant at 4515 Rosewood Drive, Shaiq was in a unique position to make a valuable contribution, with access to large volumes of food and a health-department approved location to prepare it.

Shaiq now prepares 11 trays of delicious, home-made Indian and Pakistani cuisine, enough to feed 250 people, and donates the meals to the Open Heart Kitchen, which picks up the trays from her restaurant. She includes a meat entrée, a vegetable, and rice in a much-anticipated treat for Open Heart’s many patrons. In addition, Shaiq provides another 50 or so servings of prepared food to the kitchen on a weekly basis.

“I believe that we are here to help each other, and there is a growing need for food in this tough economy,” says Shaiq.

“This is a practical way for me to contribute and I would highly recommend it to other restaurateurs who feel the same way,” she adds.

Restaurant donations can make a large difference to the Open Heart Kitchen. Having food prepared by a professional staff reduces the amount of volunteer time that must be coordinated.

“Some of our distribution sites do not have full kitchen facilities or limited space,” according to Linda McKeever, the Executive Director of Open Heart Kitchen.

Having pre-prepared food that is ready to serve is an enormous blessing to our program and this generosity is very much appreciated,” she says.

Anakarlee Restaurant has been in Pleasanton since June of 2010 and offers organic Pakistani/Indian food. Shaiq and her husband Mohammed also own another restaurant, Shalimar in Sunnyvale. They are committed to supporting the communities that they do business in.

About Anarkalee Restaurant
Anarkalee is located at 4515 Rosewood Drive in Pleasanton, next to Patelco in the Wal-Mart shopping center. The restaurant is open seven days a week, serving lunch from 11 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and dinner from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. On weekends, Anarkalee is open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

About Open Heart Kitchen
Open Heart Kitchen serves prepares nutritious meals free of charge to the hungry people of the Tri-Valley area. Open Heart Kitchen is the only hot meal program of its kind in the Tri-Valley area. They feed the hungry every weekday at five locations in Pleasanton, Livermore and Dublin, no questions asked.

Founded in 1995 as an interfaith effort, Open Heart Kitchen serve more than 200,000 meals yearly. There is no qualifying process. Meals can be eaten at multiple sites or taken to go. Guests come from all walks of life: the homeless, seniors on fixed incomes, the unemployed and the under-employed, and low-income families struggling to make ends meet.

Open Heart Kitchen serves as their safety net. The organization works in cooperation with the Alameda County Community Food Bank, more than a dozen local food pantries, and various Tri-Valley non-profits whose missions promote nutrition and hunger relief.

To learn more, go to Open Heart Kitchen's website.