"It's one of our favorite events! A great big fundraiser that we have for local organizations," says Boundary Co-op Marketing Manager, Cheryl Rushing. "The community really gets behind us and it's a great way for us to raise some money, just by people filling up their gas tanks!"
Today is Fuel Good Day, where Federated Co-op donates 5 cents for every litre of fuel purchased at their participating C-store gas bars, donating it back into community. Boundary Co-op adds an additional 5 cents to that making it a 10-cent donation for every gas or diesel fuel fill up towards a community organization or project in their trading area.
In Deloraine, the Deloraine Ag Society is raising funds to continue their efforts in upgrading the Ag grounds.
"They're raising money to update and improve and add to the infrastructure at the fairgrounds. If anybody's familiar with the current Ag Society, it's a relatively young group," explains Rushing. "They assumed the role of the old Board, and they've done a really great job in reviving the summer fair and bringing a lot of excitement to Deloraine during the summer!"
In Boissevain, the local Arts Council will be the recipient of this year's Fuel Good Day sales at the Boissevain gas bar.
"For those in Boissevain you'll be familiar with the arts council. They offer a lot of arts programming, music programming, those kinds of things to lots of youth and community members. They're a really great organization," adds Rushing. "They're located in the arts building in town, which is a designated heritage building and they're looking to fundraise for some new windows and doors that they are desperately in need of."
"And the third group we're raising money for is the Killarney-Turtle Mountain Fire Department," she says. "Everybody knows we always rely on our fire departments. They're solely staffed by volunteers, and they really are committed to keeping us safe and looking after those events that we really hope never happens. But we're always happy to help them and they're raising some money for some new breathing apparatuses and a few other equipment needs that they're always needing. They always want to make sure that they have the best equipment to keep their guys safe," adds Rushing.
In addition to 10 cents from every fuel fill up going to the respective community organizations, Boundary Co-op will be donating the proceeds from the lunch BBQ's taking place at each of these C-store locations.
"If it's just a $5 top up or $100 fill 10 cents from every litre that we sell is going to be going to these organizations," she shares. "So, it won't take very much for things to add up for these groups. We've seen in the past where businesses really get behind it. They bring in their vehicle fleets. There are farmers who bring in their vehicles and their equipment and really get behind these groups. So, we definitely encourage everyone to come and fill their tank."
"And you know, if you don't have a vehicle, come and pick up a co-op coffee, come and pick up a Big Cool Slush. We'll be donating $1 from the sale of each one of those throughout the entire day. And we also have some lunches happening in each of those communities. So, pick up a burger, drink and chips for $10, and that full $10 is going to go to support that organization," adds Rushing.
"We love what we do and we're so happy that we can continue to give back to our communities again through Fuel Good Day!" says Rushing.