Local Canada Safeway employees will hold the first major fundraiser for their recently-adopted charity of the year—Fort Frances Crime Stoppers—this Saturday.
From 10 a.m.-4 p.m., local “celebrities” will be bagging groceries and encouraging customers to “top up” their bills, with the difference going to Crime Stoppers to help purchase playground equipment for local parks.
Fort Frances OPP Cst. Caroline Spencer, who sits on the local Crime Stoppers board, said Monday she’s got numerous people lined up to help out on that day, ranging from teachers, doctors, and local media to town councillors, police officers, and firefighters.
There also will be coffee and cake, so stop by and visit, said Cst. Spencer.
As previously reported, the local Crime Stoppers board has expressed concerns that the town, in an effort to become compliant with the Canadian Standards Association’s “Children’s Playspaces and Equipment Standard,” removed all equipment from the Phair Avenue park back in July.
The Front Street, Lillie Avenue, and Pither’s Point parks also had some of their playground equipment removed over the summer.
Cst. Spencer said that in neighbourhoods where there are no parks, children end up playing in the streets. Restoring parks where children can play will reduce unsafe behaviour.
All proceeds from the partnership with Canada Safeway will go towards new equipment for local parks.
Since first adopting charities in 1998, local Safeway employees have helped raise money for the Riverside Foundation for Health Care, Friends of the Library, Fort Frances Friends of Animals, the “Community Chest,” and the Kiwanis skate park.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
