There are benefits to being friends with the guardians of the chopsticks.
Last Thursday, the proceeds from Oka Sushi鈥檚 chopstick fundraiser landed in the hands of the Friends of Jasper National Park.
Tatsuhiko and Rieko Okazaki, owners of the restaurant,聽 presented Heather Aussant Roy, co-manager of the Friends and locker holder, with a cheque for about $3,200. It鈥檚 the ninth year the restaurant has collected money from customers who in turn keep a pair of specially crafted Japanese chopsticks in one of 60 lockers at the sushi bar, located at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. The minimum cost for a locker is $50 annually, although larger donations are always welcome.
Longtime Oka server and Friends volunteer Joann Black said a different charity is chosen each year to receive the sticky goodness, and that they didn鈥檛 realize Friends was actually a registered not-for-profit organization until Aussant Roy submitted an application for the ninth annual gift.
鈥淏ecause the store is kind of our front line, it鈥檚 hard for people to think about us as a non-profit,鈥� Heather explained. 鈥淏ut the profits we make in the store are reinvested in charitable activities that help the park.鈥�
She said the 鈥渇ortunate鈥� feeling Friends will split the windfall between the Whistlers Restoration, the Jasper Trails Alliance, the Friends volunteer program and support for summer programs that connect people to the park, including their hiking club and the early birds bird watching program.
The restaurant stopped taking names for future chopstick locker availability about five years ago. More than 95 per cent of their locker holders have been there from the start.
This being Jasper, they were asked whether anyone famous held a locker, even under a pseudonym, so they could appear at random for some of the freshest food in the park.
Black, a 19-year Oka veteran, sidestepped the question.
鈥淎ll of our locker holders are famous!鈥�
Craig Gilbert
[email protected]
