Representatives for the KinClub and local volunteers presented the food bank with $4715, representing almost two months worth of tips from homebound residents grateful for doorstep deliveries of grocery purchases to help them get through the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.

“Everyone has been so generous, understanding, and appreciative,” stated Nicholas Beauchamp, project chairman. “This is a win-win for the entire township.”

In mid-March, Russell Foodland owner/operator Karine Boucher and the Russell Kin Club launched a project that Boucher conceived. The plan was for safe home delivery of groceries to homebound residents during the current pandemic.

Beauchamp took charge of the program, organized delivery schedules for both Kin Club members who signed up to help and also other volunteers who stepped forward to assist. The number of deliveries reached a peak of 60 in one day and have since dropped down to an average of 20 to 25 deliveries per day.

Many residents who benefitted from the service over the past two months wanted to tip the delivery people. All of the volunteers involved chose to pool all the tip money they received into a fund for the Embrun Food Bank. The accumulated tips, totalling more than $4700, were turned over to food bank officials May 5, and volunteers plan to keep on saving their tips for the food bank as they continue to make deliveries while the program continues.