The Friendly City Optimist Club gave out apples and oranges to the community schools of Moose Jaw on December 1, instead of a breakfast they usually hold annually.
Moose Jaw Co-op has always been happy to help out the club and with contributions supporting the youth of Moose Jaw.
The Friendly City Optimist club picked up approximately 30 cases of apples and oranges from the store’s rear loading dock for this special project. .
“It’s all for kids,” Lynann Pethick, Second Vice-President of the club said.
“They wanted more supplies in the line of food, so we decided to just go ahead and buy a case of apples and oranges for each school and distribute them,” club member Ellen Sjoberg said. She is in charge of the club’s annual breakfast arrangements for children.
She says they are doing it differently this year. “The school projects for the breakfast started about five years ago where they would hold a breakfast at one public school and one private school.”
This year because of some logistical issues, Sjoberg says schools are saying if they have the money they could spend it on granola bars, apples and oranges. That is why the club decided to go with fruit. She also said Dr. Ata Stationwala from the Moose Jaw Podiatry Clinic and Smitty’s Restaurant at the Town ‘N Country Mall have contributed, and their donations helped to make this donation possible.
“Instead of our annual breakfasts, we’re doing this because it’s really safe in the schools; we have decided on apples and oranges because they can always use them,” said Pethick “This is a good way, and the teachers are quite happy that we are doing this.”
Ellen Sjoberg, Lloyd and Lynann Pethick came to oversee the project, with a number of club members helping to collect the cases of fruit from the Co-op. Produce Manager Sherry Ross and Produce Clerk Janice Auger were also there to help the volunteers load up.
Although the weather was cold with blowing snow, all the volunteers were happy to load up the fruit “for the kids.”
