The Sharing Place Food Centre was the recipient of a large donation Tuesday afternoon.
Metro Orillia raised $14,964.80 for The Sharing Place through their Christmas fundraiser where they asked customers to donate $2 or more at their time of purchase. Metro matched each donation.
Chris Peacock, The Sharing Place's executive director, says the donation will help strengthen the food system locally.
“It’s absolutely incredible to not only have the great support from Metro, but as well as the customers from the community who shop here,” he said.
Peacock says the large donation will help The Sharing Place purchase food items strategically; it gives them the freedom to purchase what they need when they need it, as well as helping them invest in expanding their capacity.
“This is a great corporate and local partnership that helps feed families in our community. Nobody would have expected that we would be receiving a cheque today for $15,000. It’s amazing,” he said.
Jackie Gadsby, Metro assistant manager, says customers stepped up during this fundraiser and exceeded the store's expectations.
“I’m so proud of everyone in Orillia who has helped The Sharing Place through this donation,” she said.
“We didn’t expect to raise this much. In the past, we’ve done things like food bank bags as well as monetary donations, and this exceeded that by far,” said Gadsby.
On top of this large financial donation, Metro Orillia has also donated over 9,000 pounds of recovered food to The Sharing place over the last four months.
