Local News
Fueling Communities: Heritage Co-op raises well over $11K for local food banks
Heritage Co-op was thrilled to see their communities embrace the annual Fuel Good Day initiative to raise money for local organizations and charities, with a great effort going towards fundraising for local food banks in their trading area. "Fuel Good Day provides an opportunity for local groups to raise money, and for us to support them," shares Leanne DeVliegere. "And I'll say that those local groups show us the exact same support in return. So, we had a really nice day at so many of our locations whereby the recipients of Fuel Good Day dollars were actually on site helping do things like, hand out air fresheners and wash windows for customers and such, and it was really fun!" Every Drop Counts: Fuel Sales Support Food Banks and Dreams for Kids Heritage Co-op serves a large area of the Westman Region, and supporting the local foodbanks through Fuel Good Day has become a traditional fundraising campaign for them. The food bank in Minnedosa, and in Erickson, the Riverdale Food Bank for Rivers, and the Shoal Lake and Area Food Bank for Strathclair and Shoal Lake all benefit from the purchase of fuel in those communities. Additionally, the Wawanesa Food Bank and the Minnedosa Food Bank are helped through the fuel sales in those communities. In Brandon, funds raised from the four co-op gas bars go towards Samaritan House food bank and Helping Hands. Westman Dreams for Kids will also be receiving a portion of this year's earnings. DeVliegere was thrilled to see the earnings of the day reach over $11,700. "This is really exciting. That brings us to a total of over $111,000 since 2017. So, really exciting numbers!" Local Groups Add Their Own Flavor to Fuel Good Day In addition to the ten cents from every litre of fuel sold at the Heritage Co-op's gas bar, $1 from every Co-op and Big Slush sold also went into the pot. But the event also gave that opportunity for other groups to get involved and raise even more money at a few locations for a charity of their choice. The Strathclair Community Centre raised $853 at their lunch time barbeque at the Strathclair Co-op. Memory Lane Car Club raised $912 for the Brandon Regional Health Foundation's Pediatrics Unit at the barbeque that they hosted at the Heritage Co-op food store and gas bar on Richmond Avenue in Brandon. Fuel Good Day Reflects Co-op’s Ongoing Commitment to Giving Back After serving thousands of motorists at the pumps, and community members at the barbeques, DeVliegere says Fuel Good Day 2025 was an amazing day for them. "I had a number of people talk about the fact that they waited to fuel up until the 16th (last Tuesday's Fuel Good Day), which is so nice that people are thinking about it and they're willing to support it. One guy talked about how he literally rolled into town on fumes just to make sure he could hit a fuel pump on Fuel Good Day." "So yeah, that just kind of support and dedication, you know, in terms of wanting to be part of what's going on and the dollars that are flowing back to the community," she adds. "So, I think it's really great!" "Fuel Good Day is such a great day. And then on top of that, Heritage is continually finding ways to give back to the community and certainly the food banks throughout the year are an entity that we certainly support with non-saleable food, staff fundraisers and just sometimes one-off fundraisers where the dollars get directed towards them." DeVliegere says Fuel Good Day is all about community building. And that's Co-op! I think that that's the foundation of Co-op in general, is that community base here for our membership, that sort of principled thinking, if you will." "Canadian have always been making sure that we are sourcing Canadian goods wherever we can, as well as being an employer, kind of a major employer really, in a lot of the communities that we provide service in. So yeah, certainly I think that is just exactly what Co-op stands for," adds DeVliegere.