Thrifty Foods is stepping up and chipping in to help those in need as the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact many on Vancouver Island.
On Saturday, the local grocer announced that they will be matching all donations up to $100,000 made to the Rapid Relief Fund between now and Wednesday at midnight.
The Rapid Relief Fund has been established by the Victoria Foundation and benefits those in the Greater Victoria and Cowichan Valley by providing front line services to vulnerable populations whose staff, volunteers, programs, and operations have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus. A total of $4.92 million has been donated to the fund so far and Thrifty’s pledge, means the fund will exceed its target of $5 million.
Ralph Mundel, the company’s vice-president of operations, called the Rapid Relief Fund an extremely important fund that will benefit those most in need.
“The Rapid Relief Fund is an extremely important cause, extremely important fund,” he said, adding. “Where as fast as the money is coming in, the administrators of the Rapid Relief Fund are circulating it out into the community to those who need it the most, and that’s why for Thrifty Foods, it was the natural choice to donate to.”
Thrifty’s is matching all donations made to the relief fund not, not just those made by its own customers. Mundel said the company recognizes that these are difficult times for many people on Vancouver Island, including their own employees.
“We know a lot of people in our community, our neighbors are suffering right now,” he said. “So the call is to people who are able. Please donate and your dollar will turn into two and we are absolutely delighted on behalf of all of our hardworking Thrifty foods team members to donate.”
Mundel also thanked all the front line workers for all of their hard work during the pandemic and recognized the efforts made by including Thrifty employees.
“It’s an extremely challenging time for our team members and they have absolutely rallied,” Mundel said. “From our front of house team members here in our stores, to our distribution centre team members to our commissary team members to our administration team members, everyone is rowing together to make this happen so that we can provide the essential service that is food and pharmacy to our customers.”
Grocers across B.C. have seen unprecedented sales since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Mundel says he is proud of his team for all they are doing during this time.
CHEK News
