YORKTON – Yorkton's Legacy Coop announced the grand totals of their Good Buy To Hunger campaign and dished up some pies to the face for a select few.
The initiative in Yorkton raised $26,371 in charitable donations for the community contributing to a grand total of $33,871 raised by Co-op stores in the area.
Shelwin House, The Soup Haven, Bruno's Place and The Salvation Army Yorkton were among the recipients of $6,592.75. $6,500.00 went to SIGN Kamsack and $1,000 was raised for the Churchbridge School Snack Program.
"This means that we can feed more people and that we can increase our grocery budget for the next quarter," said Angela Chernoff, Coordinator for Bruno's Place, the emergency shelter that officially opened in the city last year.
Chernoff said that the shelter recently increased capacity, moving from a 10 bed facility to a 20 bed facility.
"We had no increase in our grocery budget due to that but now we have to increase," said Chernoff, adding, "this actually helps us get through the rest of our fiscal year to be able to meet that need."
"The program donates money back to service groups within our community to make sure those in need of meals have that opportunity to have that provided for them," said Harley McClughan, General Manager of Legacy Coop, during a media scrum.
McClughan said this year's Good Buy To Hunger initiative out-performed last year's.
"It's important for us to be part of the community and to support all different organizations within the community," said McClughan, who later noted that approximately $150,000 had been raised through the program since 2018.
"At Christmas time — which is when most of this promotion is going on — it was important to make sure that those in need were able to have something," said McClughan.
McGlughan, who was a recipient of a pie to the face by a Coop staff member, said it was a result of the staff's efforts.
For raising $10,000 the grocery manager agreed to get a pie to the face. After another $2,000, McClughan agreed to get pied. An additional $2,000 saw the board president decorated with whip cream and another $2,000 guaranteed the produce manager a taste of some black forest cherry pie.
As for how the chocolate cream pie tasted, McClughan said it was "pretty good," with a laugh.
