Wes Erlendson, right, makes the donation to Kim Scruby Monday morning at Safeway grocery store. (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Supporting Community Organizations

Local business contributes to food bank

Jul 13, 2020 | 2:32 PM

The Prince Albert Food Bank is getting some support from the community.

On Monday morning P.A. Safeway made a donation worth over $19,000 to the organization. Store owner Wes Erlendson explained they are happy to support the local food bank given the work they do.

“I think when you look at the community, there’s lots of disadvantaged people in town, its hard to reach out to them one on one, but through an organization like the food bank, you’re supporting a broad base of people,” he said.

Erlendson, who has owned the Safeway in P.A. since 2016, said he has been working to support the food bank since acquiring the store. He said the money donated was raised over the course of the past year through a number of means.

“We’ve had numerous fundraisers from, the money going in the coin boxes from customers at each check stand, we had a drive in December,” he said.

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Half of the money raised came from customers with Erlendson matching those funds personally.

The food bank’s executive director Kim Scruby said the contribution from Safeway is welcome. He added the donation is coming at an appropriate time.

“We’re expecting right now with a lot of the reopening’s to start getting busy again, this is definitely going to help,” he said.

Scruby said they have been getting quite a bit of support from groups and people in the community since COVID-19 forced quarantines.

“It’s been incredible,” he said.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn