Walmart donates 36,000 pounds of food to Regina Food Bank after fire

The Walmart in north Regina is still closed, more than a month after a fire was lit in the paper products section, but it has managed to turn that frown upside down for some.

At the end of December, the store donated 36,000 pounds of food to the Regina Food Bank.

The food bank’s CEO, John Bailey, confirmed the donation, saying it was because of the fire. He called it a substantial donation and said the food bank sent two dedicated five-ton trucks to the store to pick it all up.

Bailey said food bank officials are grateful to Walmart for thinking of the food bank, and said for the store to have done that it is awesome.

“The circumstances are not ideal for one of our partners, but the idea of being able to get a big chunk of food coming in — especially stuff that’s ready to go that we don’t have to worry about being old or expired — is fantastic for us,” said Bailey.

According to Bailey, anything porous was thrown out, but the majority of the canned goods were still in their packaging and might have just needed a wipe down.

It ended up being about a month’s worth of canned food, and Bailey said the food bank was about halfway through the donated items as of Wednesday.