Shawville Valu-mart owner Jaime Montejo invited shoppers to the first event he’s hosted since taking over ownership last fall.
The event was a part of a country-wide initiative by Loblaws to show its appreciation for Canadian customers. Montejo said that he wanted to use the opportunity to meet more of the community.
Montejo gave out free snacks and had a balloon-popping game for customers to take part in.
“It gives me a great opportunity to just meet people because a lot of people still don’t know who I am,” he said.
Montejo also held a 50/50 draw as a fundraiser for local food bank Bouffe Pontiac, which by the end of the afternoon had brought in $193.78 for the organization.
“We want to help promote that and give them more support that’s definitely needed,” Montejo said.
“I want to focus on helping with food inequity. I know a lot of people are struggling right now. I want to try my best to help out where I can, and I feel this is a good way to help promote that and help build funds for the local community.”
Montejo said that about $150 of food bank donation bags were also purchased and that customers could also donate at the cash registers as they checked out.
Montejo said that the event was also about celebrating Canadian products. He said that customers have been expressing interest in buying Canadian and that before Loblaws rolled out specific labels for Canadian products, he made his own.
“When Trump first made his declaration, we had a lot of customers calling and asking if we could do something to promote Canadian brands,” Montejo said. “So we started putting little maple leaf flags everywhere.”
Montejo said he hopes to host more events in the summer to continue to meet the community.
