“I was out there donating burgers kind of blindly, not knowing whether my business was even going to be alive in a month or six months,” says Johnny Prassoulis, the mastermind behind Holy Chuck Burgers.
When the pandemic began, Prassoulis’ giving nature kicked in, and he knew that he wanted to step in and help front-line workers in the best way he could. So, he packed up his trunk with his hand-rolled burgers–often with his 12 year old daughter, Venus, in tow–and drove around the city, giving out Holy Chuck burgers to grocery store workers, mechanics, nail salon staff, hospitals, and anyone he felt compelled to help. “There was a lot of people out there struggling or, I mean, there’s a lot of people that I believe that needed to kind of get recognized as well,” he says.
It started with an inspirational story, and grew from there. “I started going around to hospitals. I did everything from Markham Stouffville Hospital, I even did SickKids Hospital,” he says. “I saw on Instagram, one of the parents, her son has had a heart problem. He’s doing amazing now, but he was in SickKids for a couple of years, and he was only a year and a half, two years. So I reached out and donated to the entire floor of her son’s ward. And it just started just just going from there.”
But, his mission wasn’t always an easy one, as pandemic protocols made visiting certain places a bit of a struggle. No matter for Prassoulis though, who trudged on, unsure how long the pandemic would last, unsure if restaurants would remain closed, unsure if it would cost him more than he made during the lockdowns. “Sometimes it took us a month to get into a hospital. We would call, and then it was a lot of a lot of red tape involved, calling us back and trying to figure out what’s going on, is everything individually packed, and stuff like that,” he says. “So just going back and forth and finding times and everything. It was a lot. But it was worth it, seeing it and getting emails back and the looks on their faces when we’d show up, especially as a surprise.”
All in all, Prassoulis estimates he donated about 2,000 Holy Chuck burgers to front line workers and community members during the pandemic. It was well worth it, he says, as many of the places he donates to have a personal connection. He donated to the entire floor of the hospital where his aunt passed away from cancer, and hosts a yearly golf tournament with some of his friends in honour of a pair of brothers in their friend group–one of whom was once his partner at Holy Chuck’s Yonge and St. Clair location. Every year, Prassoulis and Holy Chuck donate all of the food. And, he has an ongoing relationship with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) in honour of his friend George, who committed suicide about two years ago.
In his friend’s honour, Prassoulis put the Uncle Georgie Porgy on the Holy Chuck menu, a fried chicken, beef and lamb sandwich with all of George’s favourite toppings. And, $1 of every sale goes to CMHA Ontario to further awareness and funding for mental health efforts in the country. “I think the meaning of life is pretty much service to other people,” he says. “And I think that’s what makes me happy.”
Johnny Prassoulis isn’t the kind of guy to show his efforts off to the world, though. You have to know him, to have a conversation with him, to know about his service. But, he hopes telling his story and his motivation will inspire others to put kindness into the world. “I mean, the biggest reason why I do want to publicize it, even though I haven’t, is so that maybe others can kind of say, you know what, look at what that guy’s doing. Maybe we can do it. Let’s do it,” he says. “And I know, maybe everybody isn’t in the same situation, and maybe they can’t do it. But there’s always a way to do stuff. Go donate some of your time. I mean, you don’t have to donate burgers. You don’t have to donate food. You don’t have to donate money. I mean, just go help somebody an hour a week or something.”
