Generosity comes in all shapes and sizes, and for Armstrong’s Askew’s Foods and its supplier, that size is four pallets of non-perishable items.
Askew’s and its suppliers donated four pallets of banana boxes stuffed full of non-perishable items such as flour, sugar, lime and lemon juice, pancake mix and a plethora of staple items that are necessary in any kitchen.
“There were so many boxes,” store manager Lori Pounder said. “I don’t even know how much stuff is in there.”
Pounder said the store’s operation manager learned the supplier may have some perfectly good items that were deemed unfit for sale, but could be donated. The operations manager reached out and made an inquiry.
“Our supplier, Associated Grocers, they’re awesome,” Pounder said. “They’re givers for sure. If there is something they can do to give back to their community, they step up every time.”
Pounder explained the items were simply uncased items that couldn’t be sold in stores.
“It’s not broken, it’s not expired, it’s just not in a case,” she said.
The pallets were split and donated to food banks in both Salmon Arm and Armstrong.
“It was awesome,” Pounder said. “The food bank (Armstrong) was more than happy with the fact we could come up with this product, they were ecstatic.”
Pounder said the Armstrong food bank — operated by the Boys and Girls Club — seemed a bit overwhelmed due to the sheer size of the donation.
“Now they have to figure out where to put all of this,” Pounder said.
“What a great thing, right?” Pounder said. “It was just a matter of going around and asking.”
Although a donation of this size hasn’t happened before, Pounder said she’d like to see this happen more often.
“Absolutely,” she said. “Anytime we get a chance to get this opportunity, we will take full advantage of it, for sure.”
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