The smell of hot dogs and hamburgers filled the air near the Moose Jaw and District Food Bank’s new building as several Saskatchewan businesses held a barbecue to support the charity.
Winmar, in partnership with Custom Works Contracting and Vipeq of Saskatchewan, hosted a barbecue at 270 Fairford Street West on Oct. 6 to support the non-profit organization. Besides purchasing food and drinks, visitors could also learn about Vipeq’s thermal cork shield material, which Winmar was spraying on the building’s exterior as a type of insulation.
The barbecue was a list-minute idea that the Winmar team thought would be good to create, said owner Kyle Jacques. It was also a sound way to encourage the community to support the food bank with financial or food donations.
“It’s been good. I think we’ve filled up four bins of food so far for donations (and) we’ve got quite a bit of cash in the cash box … ,” he continued. “The food bank does a great service for the community … we’re just paying it forward.”
Final numbers from the barbecue included $1,178.50 in monetary donations and 225 pounds of food ($585 value).
Moose Jaw Co-op donated the food, while United Rentals provided the lift that contractors used to spray the thermal cork material, and Winmar and Custom Work Contracting donated the cork spray and labour — a $40,000 value.
Winmar teamed up with the food bank after learning the latter was having difficulties finding contractors to fix its new location, said Jacques. So the company offered to be the general contractor to provide services for the interior and find other sub-contractors.
The food bank had trouble finding a contractor to spruce up the exterior, so Winmar stepped up to look after that concern as well.
The building looks amazing because it has been given almost a complete new facelift, added Jacques.
Jacques has had a relationship for several years with Vipeq’s Saskatchewan rep, Adam Schaffer, and knew of that company’s unique thermal cork shield material. Winmar recently became a certified applicator of the substance, which is why it was spraying the material throughout the day.
The thermal cork shield will not only update the look of the building, but it will also improve the efficiency of the building by adding a “thermal break” to the exterior, explained Schaffer. This means the charity won’t have to use as much heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer.
It’s also flexible, acts as a sound barrier, is fire retardant, and lasts 10 times longer than traditional exterior finishes. The material also has a 15-year warranty.
The substance is made from granulated cork and harvested from the same cork tree in Portugal every eight to 10 years, making it renewable and environmentally friendly, said Schaffer.
“Low-dense cork means high insulation value … ,” he continued. “In the 20 years this has been around, it has not failed, so we imagine decades of use (for it).”
Schaffer added that Vipeq thinks food banks are important, which is why the company jumped at the chance to support the charity and help enhance its new — but beat-up — building.
