Prairie North Coop donates kitty litter to NESPCA to help get through COVID-19 pandemic. (submitted photo/Prairie North Coop)

By Angie Rolheiser

Coop Helps

Prairie North Coop continues to give back to community organizations, individuals

May 8, 2020 | 10:18 AM

The Prairie North Coop (PNC) has made many positive impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic and that will continue in the coming weeks.

On top of numerous donations to area food banks and the North East SPCA, they are now accepting nominations from the public on good deeds.

Terry Tremblay, general manager of the Prairie North Coop, said instead of focusing on the challenges, staff want to highlight the positive in the communities they serve.

“Every day it is in front of us and everyone is so nervous but there are so many people doing so much extra and if we don’t search it out then it gets missed,” Tremblay said. “I think that is one of the things that will help us all move through this in a positive way.”

Federated Coop Limited (FCL) launched the Coop Helps campaign on #GivingTuesday, to help support individuals and communities across Western Canada.

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Nominations for those who have gone above and beyond are being accepted now until May 19 on their Facebook page for a $100 gift card. There will be 1,250 gift cards awarded across Western Canada.

During phase one of the campaign, an internal recognition program saw coop team members nominate each other for gift cards. Phase two is the public nomination for the everyday heroes no matter how little or small.

“We want to see people from our area get nominated from Melfort to Kelvington, Naicam, St, Brieux and Spalding,” Tremblay said. “We hope to get nominations from everywhere.”

Winners from the gift card giveaway will also be featured on PNC social media platforms with their stories of helping and giving.

The PNC delivered 100 turkeys to the Melfort and Kelvington Food Banks ahead of Easter weekend as well as another truckload of groceries valuing $1,000 to the Melfort Food Bank the following week.

“The demand with so many people being displaced and so many challenges we felt we would just do what we can,” Tremblay said. “Being one of the food stores puts us in a unique position.”

The North East SPCA also put out a call for donations of kitty litter and PNC delivered on that request as well.

“We made sure the SPCA would have enough until this all goes away too so we are always looking to help and we encourage other charities to reach out,” Tremblay said. “If Prairie North Coop can help in anyway, we would like to play a role in getting everyone through this.”

FCL has also announced they would be donating $250,000 to food banks in Western Canada. This donation goes beyond the annual contributions of nearly 1.2 million pounds of products in 2019.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser