Staff at Kingston’s Partners in Mission Food Bank are accustomed to receiving donations in the form of food or cash, but in the past two weeks, they’ve seen an influx of gift cards being donated.
“We’re up to about $975 right now, which is great,” Food Bank executive director, Sandy Singers, said.
That’s because a few dozen people have decided to donate the $25 gift card they received from the Loblaw’s bread price fixing scandal, which could not have come at a better time for Kingston’s Food Bank.
“We get a lot of stuff in during the Christmas season,” Singers said. “We had a wonderful season last year, (but) we’re starting to see that going out the door, more and more.”
Loblaw has recently come under fire for the amount of information required to apply for the gift card.
“I can’t be bothered,” Kingston Centre Loblaw’s shopper Bev Partridge said. “I don’t want them to have my license and all that information. Why do they need that?”
Others think it’s too much work for such little reward.
“They wanted you to go through hoops, and too many hurdles to go through for $25,” another shopper, Jim Reid, said.
But the Partners in Mission Food Bank hopes more people are willing to follow through with the process. They buy in bulk from Loblaw’s sister chain, No Frills, where they’re able to redeem the donated cards.