Grocery store buys four baby basinets for the local hospital
An overwhelming act of generosity made IGA store manager proud to be a Barrhead resident.
“Some of our staff members have been in Barrhead for over twenty years and have developed the community. We thought it was important to give back, rather than just give in a donation that goes somewhere else. This stays in the Barrhead community,” says Aaron Coutts, IGA store manager.
About a year ago Coutts had a daughter and was pleasantly surprised at the treatment of the hospital.
“I was treated so well at the hospital when we had our daughter just last year that I thought it was a worth while cause to give back to the hospital. And I wanted to give back to the community,” said Coutts.
When Coutts approached Heather Thompson, facility manager at the Barrhead Health Care Centre, with his fundraising project, he was handed a list of needed things.
“On pediatric and newborn equipment, they offered to purchase four baby basinets. New, stainless steel baby basinets because the ones we had were old and needed repair. So Aaron approached us with the idea of the smart shopper card and that is kind of how the whole thing evolved,” said Thompson.
Coutts did not have a problem including his staff in the fundraising project.
“I am very happy with the result. I am happy with the community. Everybody supported it. It wasn’t just me or two people, it was the whole town and all the staff. The store really got behind it and really pushed it, that’s what made it so successful. Well beyond what I even thought it could be. It brought all of our staff together. They enjoyed seeing how much they could raise for it,” explained Coutts.
In addition to Barrhead’s generosity, some suppliers helped out with the good cause.
“Maple Leaf gave us 25 cents for every package of bacon or ham we sold for the month. Cadbury Adams also made a donation,” said Coutts.
In just six weeks Coutts and his staff had reached their goal and even more.
“The goal was $8,025 to pay for the four basinets and the amount raised was $10,136. We’ll purchase the four basinets and then the balance that surpassed our goal will go into our general donation account and we will use that to purchase other equipment,” noted Thompson.
No doubt the IGA staff as well as Barrhead residents can be proud of the project that will use Barrhead funds to support Barrhead’s families.
Renovation in Fox Creek!!
We started the renovation in Fox Creek in May 2007. Our Grand Reopening was December 2007. We added an extra 3,000 square feet and now have a total of 18,000 beautiful square feet. The best part of the new store is all the added room. We are now able to carry a huge selection of products our customers have been asking us for. Some new specials features are the movie rental kiosk, photo kiosk and hunting & fishing licenses.
 On July 12th Southview Store Manager Pete Chalick put his First-aid course to good use when six year-old Justin Van Achte started to choke on a chicken nugget in the check-out line.
Non-food manager, Sheri Pardy was filling in at the till during a busy time when she noticed something wrong with Justin. He was coughing and couldn’t seem to catch his breath. She immediately got on the intercom to summon anyone with knowledge of the Heimlich maneuver to come to the front!
Pete heard the call and rushed to the front, remembered his First-aid and dislodged the piece of chicken and the boy started to breathe again. “Everything happened at the right time. With First-aid training, you don’t think you need it but all of a sudden it comes out and you got to test your memory, and the main thing is everything turned out well and everybody is happy and no one got hurt.”
Justin’s mom, Angie is thankful to Sheri, Pete and the whole staff. “Everyone was awesome. Sheri for making the call and for Pete to come running. I just really want to thank them for coming and helping us.”
Sheri’s quick thinking and Pete’s action saved his life. This made the front page news of the Daily Herald Tribune and the CFRN evening news!
Talk to your manager about taking a First-Aid Course. You too can save a life!
HINTON HILL, AB…The grand opening of Freson’s IGA in Hinton Hill took place on Dec. 1. Some of the special features of the store includes a pharmacy with a drive through window, full in-store delicatessen with an eat in Village Café, full in store bakery, full instore meat department, a large bulk food department, produce and Freson’s signature Wall of Values. Other features include a full service customer service department with Lottery,Western Union, Hunting & Fishing License, and 24-hour film processing. Lots of employees were there from all of our other stores to help out in the Grand Opening Festivities. The Deputy Mayor of Hinton, Dale Currie and MLA, Ivan Strang were also in attendance.
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The dinosaur sculpture has generated
great interest with both the residents and tourists of Drumheller.
It was created by Spencer Wallace of Dream Matrix Studios
located in Calgary, Alberta. The 15 foot, life-size dinosaur
sculpture appears to be bursting out of the store wall. Its
teeth are made from T-Rex teeth molds that were provided by
the Royal Tyrrell Museum. With Drumheller being the Dinosaur
Capital of Canada, we wanted to keep with the spirit and theme
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What’s a camping display doing in the middle of a Freson Market, in Drumheller Alberta?
It was part of Freson’s most successful promotion to-date and fundraiser called Freson Family Fun Fest. The promotion was created to help raise money for a CT scan machine for the Drumheller Hospital.
 The Freson team set a fundraising goal of $10,000. Little did they know that beyond their goal to support the hospital and community, Freson Market Drumheller would be recognized by The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers Awards night at Grocery Innovations Canada, the country’s premier grocery exposition. There they won the Canadian Master Merchandiser Gold Award (large category), as well as winning the overall title, The Platinum Canadian Mater Merchandiser Award.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) annually recognizes exceptional grocers promotions with its Canadian Master Merchandiser Awards presented in the large, medium and small categories. Mike Lovsin, accepted for Freson Market Drumheller at the 43rd annual Canadian Independent Grocer of the Year Awards Gala Held in Toronto on October 2005.
 The cross merchandising promotion was a summer long endeavour that began with the local Boy Scout troupe. The idea fro camping displays throughout the store was created in an effort to include the troupe. In May, for five full weeks culminating in a June 11th, Freson Family Fun Fest event, the store became a campers dream,Juniper and Apple Trees decorated the store with mannequins dressed in camping attire alongside hibachis, coolers, lawn chairs and fishing gears. Tents and canoes were erected in aisles and even an inflatable pool was situated with Campbell’s Gold Fish on display. Raising money for The Boy Scouts was first on the agenda, and the Scouts manned the barbeque for two weekends, bringing in a total of $774.
To boost the boy scouts efforts, Freson Market Drumheller donated one dollar from each Foldgers Coffee and Nestle Iced Tea sold during the week and the total amount raised was $1038.
There were still four weeks to go and a long way from $10,000. But with the support from the community and hard work of Freson IGA staff members the goal was not only reached but also surpassed! Freson Family Fun Fest raised $16,950 for the Drumheller Health Authority. For this worthy cause, grocery sponsors jumped on board such as Nestle Canada Inc., Campbell’s, Kraft, Coca-Cola and Kelloggs.
“The CFIG Master Merchandiser program encourages retailers to leverage suppliers support to create exciting in-store promotions that increase store traffic and sales, and garner positive community relations,” said CFIG’s senior manager, member services, Raffaella Bandiera. “Freson’s IGA Drumheller not only won a prestigious Award for their store but the
community won as well."
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This grizzly bear was constructed for our Hinton Hill location. He is approximately 15 ft. tall and was constructed by Spencer Wallace of Dram Matrix Studios Inc. He has become a great back drop for pictures, everyone loves to have their picture taken with "The Grizzly Bear" yes, even Mr. & Mrs. Lovsin our founders.
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Freson Market wins 