Pictured above: Community member Myrna Suski (left) and Lisa Thomas, Solo Store Manager, with the store-matched contributions donated to Lac du Bonnet & Area Food Bank

When the regional food bank found its cupboards looking bare, community members and the Solo Market in Pinawa, MB quickly came to the rescue.

Restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 have made coordinating food collection activities difficult, and food bank usage has been up. In mid-January, the Lac du Bonnet & Area Food Bank made a call out to the community through Facebook, saying the regional food bank was short of some single-family food items such as canned soups, fruits, meats and beans, juices and other non-perishable items.

The plea was shared on community Facebook pages and by the Lac du Bonnet Lions Club. Pinawa’s Solo Market Store Manager, Lisa Thomas, read the post, she immediately began thinking of a creative way to help. She challenged the community: if they could fill the donation bin at the Solo Market on January 22, the store would match all donations.

The next day, many community members stopped by to generously drop off or purchase items that were needed. By Sunday, the bins were overfilled and the store staff began sorting through all the items, creating a master list of everything that was donated for the store to match.

All single-family food items donated by community members – an initial total of 1,200 lbs – were delivered to the Lac du Bonnet & Area Food Bank, thanks to community members Mary and George Greber and Therese and Chuck Tinguely, who kindly volunteered for the task.    

Pictured above: community volunteers George & Mary Greber (left) and Theresa and Chuck Tinguely helped deliver the food to the Lac du Bonnet and Area Food Bank.

Community member Myrna Suski also lent a hand, volunteering to “shop” for the grocery items the store was contributing to match the donations. At the end, the Solo’s Market donation resulted in a total value of $1,157 worth of groceries. On January 28, Don Daymond, Doug and Lynda Krampetz, volunteered to deliver the matched food items to the food bank.

“I knew in my heart that if more people were aware of this, they would open their hearts and kindly donate. I love my community and was overwhelmed by their generosity and the fact that so many people stepped up to help,” said Thomas.