Residents of Vancouver Island are deep into the sometimes sweltering summer season, but one local company has stepped forward to offer up refreshing beverages while, at the same time, supporting local charities.
It’s the third year that Phillips Soda Works has mounted the program in which 25 cents will be donated to the United Way for every bottle of their soft drinks sold between August 3 and September 3.
The company offers the full range of fizzy flavours, including root beer, orange cream soda, ginger ale and cola. The drinks are all natural and craft-brewed and have been made available at a host of grocers in Greater Victoria, including Country Grocer, Red Barn Market, Save-on-Foods, Thrifty Foods, Tru-Value and Quality Foods.
“Red Barn Market is very excited to partner with United Way and Phillips Soda Works this summer to fundraise and improve the quality of lives and build community on our island. We are thrilled to team up with other local grocers to not only meet last year’s achievement but to surpass it!” Dale Gordon, Grocery Director, Red Barn Market.
His thoughts were echoed by Rob MacKay of Quality Foods who added: “Grocers on Vancouver Island tend to have an exceptional spirit of helping and community; that’s why Quality Foods jumped at the chance to participate alongside Phillips Brewing in support of the United Way. This campaign checks all of the boxes for us – Island focus, supporting important efforts to help others. We’re thrilled to be a part of it once more.”
Last year the promotion raised more that $10,000 for the United Way. The funds were invested in programs and services that targeted children, youth, families and seniors in the community.
“We are thrilled to be able to team up with United Way and our local grocery partners on this campaign. So much of our support comes from families who value local products with real ingredients, and we jumped at the opportunity to be able to turn around and support them,” says Matt Phillips, Founder, Phillips Soda Works.
United Way is one of the region’s largest annual funder of local social service programs and work tirelessly to assist charitable organizations by identifying and funding programs to address the community’s most pressing social challenges.
They are active in the community all year round through fundraising and community building and provide multi-year funding to create a strong and stable network of local services. In the past 80 years they have raised over $165 million.
