Children North received half the funds made available to Keethanow Gas Bar. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

giving back

Keethanow Gas Bar makes $5,000 donation to local organizations

Dec 4, 2019 | 3:03 PM

Two organizations in La Ronge will benefit from a $5,000 prize awarded to the Lac La Ronge Indian Band’s Keethanow Gas Bar.

The Children North Early Childhood Intervention Program and the Lac La Ronge Food Bank each received a cheque for $2,500 on Wednesday, which was made possible through a partnership with Old Dutch Foods and Fine Foods Advertising. Keethanow Manager Brent Lee stated he entered a special program sponsored by the two groups and it’s the first time the store has been a winner.

“Every year I sign up for the program and there’s chances of winning all sorts of different things,” Lee said. “It’s all on sales. The higher your sales, the more entries you get.”

Old Dutch Foods Representative Mark Pelechaty and Fine Foods Advertising Manager Derek Wiebe drove to La Ronge to be available for the cheque presentations. They explained the program is meant to allow retailers to give back to their communities in a positive and meaningful way.

With Christmas coming up this month, Lac La Ronge Food Bank Chairperson Trudy Connor said the needs of clients are great. She expects the demand to be just as high in January as families recover from the cost of the holidays, as well as increased bills for electricity and heat. Connor noted monthly expenses at the food bank are about $5,000.

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“It reminds us about just how much we appreciate the support that we have in this tri-community,” she said. “We are all volunteers here. All of the funds come through donations, all of our food comes through donations. We truly could not run the food bank the way we do without folks and groups like this who donate to us.”

Funds for the Lac La Ronge Food Bank will go towards purchasing groceries. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

Children North Executive Assistant Doreen Seidel also expressed thanks for the donation.

“Thank you very much for choosing Children North as your charity. Your money will go to very good use,” she said. “[We serve] about 500 children in northern Saskatchewan giving them occupational and physical therapy, speech language [support] and an outreach clinic.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno