Local resident, in partnership with Sobeys Paris, produces big $5,000 donation to Salvation Army Food Bank

By Casandra Turnbull

It all started as a discussion in the parking lot of the Paris Legion in a dire effort to respond to the Salvation Army’s call for public assistance to fill the food bank shelves earlier this month The plan was quite simple, Paris resident Jonah Nikitin collaborated with Jackee Mills, Franchisee of Paris Sobeys; he would raise $500, and Jackee would chip in and match him dollar-for-dollar so they could purchase some must-need items at cost to maximize their donation. What happened next was truly remarkable –they exceeded that $500 goal 10 times over, raising and donating $5,000 worth of food and fresh meat to the Salvation Army Food Bank last week.

Both Jonah and Jackee heard the shelves were bare at the food bank during an August Kiwanis Club of Paris-Brant meeting Jackee is a Kiwanis member, and Jonah attends the monthly meetings as his partner is also a member of the service club. Will Ratelband’s outreach to the public came in midAugust after the food bank shelves ran dry, forcing the Salvation Army to close its doors for the first time in the 18+ years Will has operated the food bank

“Jonah approached me after the August Kiwanis meeting and despite us never having much conversation before, he advised me of his plan to raise money to purchase ‘most-needed’ items and asked if there was any way I and Paris Sobeys would be able to support him,” explained Jackee What happened next was a bit of a whirlwind. Jonah’s initial goal of coming up with $500 quickly grew to $1,600 thanks to donations from his friends, family members, Kiwanis members and his employer Grand River Powersports.

“I told them (Grand River Powersports) of the food bank running out of food and without hesitation Hilary Marcotte, owner of GRPS, donated $750,” explained Jonah. And Jackee kept her word to match dollar-for-dollar, even exceeding that contribution Sobeys Paris kicked in $1,800 to his $1,600, finding a last-minute deal on fresh meat that bumped their $1,600 to $1,800. The team at Sobeys worked together to ensure the donation was sizeable They were sourcing out the best deals, sorting through 3,000 items each week to land on the best possible costs to get more bang for their buck

“Once the product was ordered, store teammates helped in organizing, re-pricing/calculating, removing and loading the transport vans ahead of delivery to the food bank,” said Jackee. Continued on page 6