Filipino chef turns talents to feeding victims of Vancouver's Lapu Lapu tragedy

Global News

01-05-2025

A Vancouver Filipino chef is throwing his kitchen behind efforts to aid the victims of the car-ramming attack at the Lapu Lapu Festival on Saturday.
'Filipino food and Filipino culture is all about comfort, all about giving you, like, what did mom used to feed you,' said TJ Conwi, owner of Ono Vancouver.
'So you get messages like hey, I have food but it's mostly Caucasian food. But now we are sending them adobo … things that would at least remind them of good times and the sense that somebody out there cares for them.'
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Conwi was actually at the Filipino festival in South Vancouver the day of the attack, but left hours before a man drove an SUV into the crowds killing 11 and injuring dozens of others.
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The tragedy, he said, touched him personally.
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Like him, many members of the Filipino community attending the festival had come to Canada seeking a better life — only to have the promise of safety and opportunity ripped away.
Conwi, who already produces up to 1,200 community meals a week through his catering business for charities, including those on the Downtown Eastside, decided he needed to help.
That's when he began talking with other members of the local chef community about how they could coordinate a food delivery and meal pickup.
'You think about the son who just went there for breakdancing and instead of thinking about school on Monday, is in the ICU, the son that stayed home to do his homework is now without family, right?' Conwi said, fighting back tears.
'It really hits you hard. You get close to them. And the only thing that brings you up is like, hey, I can contribute meals for you. Like mom is probably one of the best cooks, cooks Filipino food, maybe we can do that.'
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The message has resonated with Conwi's staff, who have thrown themselves into the initiative.
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'It just shook me to my core as soon as I heard the news,' Ono sous chef Janice Quinto said.
'We're all one big happy community that got hit so hard by something so close to home and it's so amazing to see all of the nations really coming together,' she added.
'We have this saying, like we help each other,r they call it Bayanihan, so every time that something happens, we make sure to help each other,' added cook Jim Renz De Guzman.
'We can cook, that's our talent.'
The suspect in the killings, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, though police say more charges could still be approved.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has since confirmed Lo was under the care of a mental health care team but he was on extended leave at the time.
As of Wednesday, 16 people remained in hospital from the attack, five of them in critical condition.