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Fuel Good Day kicked off in Swift Current and the rest of the Pioneer Co-op region with a barbecue at the Wheatland Mall gas bar.
Members of the Pioneer Co-op Board were on hand, grilling up smokies and handing them out to everyone who stopped by. All the proceeds from the barbecue were going back into food programs for the Chinook School Division, the Hily Trinity School Division, and Kyle School.
Uli Cartman, board chair for the Pioneer Co-op, was decked out in his finest Hawaiian shirt, grilling up a storm next to the car wash.
"You can pick up these smokies in the meat section in both the mall here and at the southside location," said Cartman. "They're actually very good."
Fuel Good Day sees $0.10 from every litre sold going towards the fund. As an example, if someone were to fuel up with 80 litres, that means $8 goes towards feeding local students.
Cartman was thrilled to see so many people coming through to fuel up during the barbecue.
"Every time you go to any of our service stations and you see that there are vehicles there, it's a good thing," said Cartman. "It means that we're doing something right."
With The Big One in town, that means there were plenty of gas-guzzling V8s that had just finished commuting from as far as Calgary. With hundreds of such vehicles filling up, Cartman was confident they could hit a similar total to last year, if not soaring higher.
"We brought in $12,500 last year, and we're really shooting for that same goal this year," said Cartman.
Anyone looking to show some extra support can buy any coffee or slurpee at a Pioneer Co-op service station, and one dollar from either of those purchases will be contributed to the total for Fuel Good Day.
Fuel Good Day is operating at every Pioneer Co-op fueling station. It applies to both gas and diesel sales. Anyone with questions can call Pioneer Co-op for more information. Swift Current Online will share the totals once they have been calculated.