Armed with a giant shopping cart, two local food banks were able to quickly replenish their shelves thanks to Dean and Barb’s No Frills store in Chatham.
The store owners donated $1,000 worth of food to both the Outreach for Hunger and Salvation Army food banks, but did it in a fun way on Thursday.
Representatives from the food banks were given one minute to fill an oversize shopping cart – three times the size of a regular one – with items pre-selected from the Queen Street store.
“It’s exciting, it’s just great,” said Beth Reeve, from the Salvation Army.
“It think it’s fun and . . . a little bit scary,” laughed Brenda LeClair, executive director of Outreach for Hunger.
“I’ve never run around the grocery store before,” she added.
While the event was fun, the need is real.
“We need everything, we’re really low (on supplies) right now,” Reeve said.
No Frills was among those taking part in the fifth day of the 12 Days of Positivity in Chatham-Kent, which was designated not-for-profit and charity day.
LeClair said she had several events to attend on Thursday that benefited the food bank, including school food drives and the Chatham-Kent Association of Realtors who filled a truck with donations.
She said it is perfect timing for donations, because “summer time pretty much depletes our supply of a lot of items.”
She added going into fall with the return of school, the heat will get turned on “so this is a really important time for us between now and Christmas.”
Dean Mills, who owns and operates the local No Frills with his wife Barb, said, “Positivity is absolutely wonderful in Chatham-Kent.”
He added, “Both the Salvation Army and Outreach for Hunger need extra food at this time of the year, so this is a small way we can help and give back to the community that’s been so generous to us.”
On Thursday, Tim Schinkel, owner of Schinkels Legacy, prepared to ship out the annual donation of 2,000 pounds of black forest ham halves the company donates to food banks across Chatham-Kent.
“We really feel like we’re part of the community and we do that by giving back,” Schinkel said, adding the community has treated his business well.
He is a big supporter of the positivity movement that is in its third year in Chatham-Kent.
“I think there’s never enough positivity in our society, in general,” Schinkel said, adding organizers do a great job highlighting what comes from positive thinking.
Darrin Canniff, co-chair of the 12 Days of Positivity, said, “This is what community’s all about, this is businesses supporting community and we need to support the businesses that support our community.”
Canniff said this year’s positivity campaign is going fantastic.
“The momentum is right across the community, we have a lot of exciting events happening,” he said.
An example, he said, is that free lunches are being offered everyday next week, leading up to Positivity Day on Thursday where a community celebration is being held at the Chatham Capitol Theatre.
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