No-Frills donates $5700 to school hot lunch programs

Above: Chris and Tracey Mansbridge donated more than $5700 to four Morinville schools for their lunch programs Friday morning. From left: MPS Vice-Principal Kerri Trombley, Tracey and Chris Mansbridge, Georges H. Primeau Principal Allan Menduk, MCHS Principal Don Hinks, MCHS Vice-Principal Wade Michael, Notre Dame Learning Support Facilitator Jennifer Wiley, and Notre Dame Principal Raymonde Roulston. Absent from photo Morinville Public School Student Councillor Cindy Vandervaate and MPS Student Union President Caleb Mills. – Lucie Roy Photo

by Lucie Roy
Morinville News Correspondent

Chris and Tracey Mansbridge of Chris & Tracey’s No-Frills in Morinville donated more than $5700 to four Morinville schools for their Hot Lunch Program. The cheque presentation took place Friday morning at No-Frills with representatives from Morinville Public School, Georges H. Primeau, École Notre Dame, and Morinville Community High School (MCHS) in attendance.

Tracey Mansbridge said the store’s cashiers did well this year, far exceeding the $3244 raised at the checkout in 2015.

“It is about double this year – so awesome,” Tracey Mansbridge said, adding the store had a contest and made it fun for the cashiers. ““I think also to donate in town to somebody in town is different.”

The fundraiser ran for two weeks during the last week of August and the first week of September. In a couple of weeks, the store will hold their President’s Choice Children’s Charity donations, once again helping children, but the local initiative is always a big hit with customers.

“You see more here that you are donating for the schools,” Mansbridge said. “I think you get a better turnout, better feedback as well, and all of the cashiers here are school kids that go to those schools, so many parents help out.”

The store is grateful for the customer support to assist the schools with their lunch program, particularly given the number of business asking for some help at the checkout.

“When we were running our campaign, Tim [Hortons] also had their Cookie Campaign as well, and if you get a coffee and get asked to donate there and come here to do shopping and get asked again, it is a lot,” Tracey Mansbridge said. “People might think where do you draw the line? I find doing it for two weeks sometimes the second week is always harder than the first. The first week we get an awesome amount of money. In the second we get repeat customers that have already donated.”

MCHS teacher Terry Maslyk said the schools always appreciate No-Frills support.

“All of the schools are really seriously underfunded, and the money for these type of things is just not there,” Maslyk said, noting the money is badly needed and greatly appreciated. “This year, my gosh, $5700 is incredible.”

The monies will be divided equally among the four schools.

“I did not realize the magnitude of so many kids that just do not have lunches or lunch to go to at home either,” Maslyk said. “So they started this a few years back [at MCHS] because there were no funds in the budget.”

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6 Comments

  1. For clarity, did No Frills pass along the funds donated by customers, amounting to $5700, or is this a corporate donation above and beyond the funds collected from the customers?

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