Canadian couple uses grocery store shopping spree to stock the shelves of a food bank
With 50 seconds on the clock, Ryan Warren scrambled to grab as many non-perishable items as possible, knowing they would soon fill the shelves of the Calgary Food Bank.
Warren and his partner, Chantal Leroux, were "really excited" when they learned they won a shopping spree at Bragg Creek Foods, Leroux told CBC News. They were told they would have 50 seconds to grab what they wanted, up to $500. At first, Leroux pictured all of the items they could stock up on, but then it hit her: this was "a great opportunity to be able to give back."
On Saturday, Leroux and Warren arrived at the grocery store with a game plan: grab items that wouldn't spoil, so they could go to the food bank. During the allotted 50 seconds, Warren grabbed everything from canned vegetables to coffee to diapers, racking up a $598 bill (because they were helping the food bank, the extra $98 was covered). That wasn't all — before the shopping spree, Warren asked for donations from local businesses, and presented the food bank with a check for $1,500. This, Calgary Food Bank employee Avaleen Streeton said, was "absolutely phenomenal."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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