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Prince Rupert Overwaitea tops in the province with “Round Up for Kids”

It was a case of every penny counting when Overwaitea Foods in Prince Rupert held its Round Up For Kids to the nearest dollar program during the month of May, raising over $7,200 for BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and exceeding the efforts of all other stores in the province.
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Overwaitea Foods in Prince Rupert

It was a case of every penny counting when Overwaitea Foods in Prince Rupert held its Round Up For Kids to the nearest dollar program during the month of May, raising over $7,200 for BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and exceeding the efforts of all other stores in the province.

“It was a real community effort,” said store manager Dan Hansen Thursday.

“The customers were really generous.”

Hansen, who relocated from Burns Lake in February to become the store’s manager in Prince Rupert, is impressed with the community’s generosity so far.

The win was by a narrow margin, he admitted, but he felt there were an “alarming” number of people that said yes to the campaign.

Opening up a chart on his office computer, he pointed to the screen where it showed that people said “yes” 13,892 times.

“It’s unreal to me,” Hansen added.

Quick to credit the community for its support, cashiers Maddy Vendettelli and Katie Sklapsky said they also wanted to thank the  community.

“People were asking us to round up part way through the program,” said Sklapsky.

Twice a year, Overwaitea Foods holds a campaign to raise funds for BC Children’s Hospital. Often it’s through a campaign where customers are asked to donate their points.

“This time around they thought we’d give customers a break from asking them for their points and try something different,” said Hansen.

The monies raised at each store will be matched by the company and its large suppliers and go toward the efforts of BC Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Overwaitea normally puts up a grand prize, and this time one person in the province will win 25 years of $5,200 gift cards for the store. Every time people rounded up, their names were automatically entered to win.

They haven’t announced the winner yet, but Hansen is crossing his fingers it’s someone from Prince Rupert.

While the prize was an added incentive, many customers weren’t even aware of it.

“We didn’t push the prize at all. We just pushed helping the Children’s Hospital and that’s what made it so amazing,” Hansen said.

“There were a few banners up advertising the prize, but you would have to stop and read them and most people don’t.”

Beyond donating pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, there were the odd customers that went beyond rounding up to the nearest dollar to donate $25 at a time, and the staff pitched in as well.

“All of it helped,” said Hansen.