A $20,000 donation was made to Steve Tompkins and his 11-year-old daughter Sarah at the Extra Foods in Sechelt, Jan. 17, to help the family purchase mobility access for their vehicle.
The Roberts Creek family applied to President's Choice Children's Charities for help ensuring Sarah, who has cerebral palsy and requires the use of a power chair for mobility, can enjoy increased independence in her life.
Last year the charity donated more than $13 million to Canadian children in need.
"It frees her up, which is extremely great," Tompkins said at the Tuesday morning presentation.
Currently Sarah requires the use of a manual wheelchair when travelling in the family vehicle. The upgrade will allow her to travel with her power chair.
"The power chair is extremely important because she can control it. I remember when we first got the chair, she was a little hesitant and I said 'well you get to go see the world,'" Tom-pkins said.
"Then one day she just punched into her communication device, 'Dad, I want to go see the world' and off she went."
While this is not the first community donation to come through the grocer and its connection to the charitable organization, so far it is the largest.
Last year, three separate donations of at least $10,000 made their way to deserving children on the Coast, used to purchase things like accessible home improvements, play equipment and mobility solutions.
"It's tough not to bring a tear to the eye when you see these kids and you see the parents," said Extra Foods owner Dave Sawatsky, who took Sarah and her dad on a tour of the employee areas of the store before making the presentation. "It can be an emotional experience. It's great."
In addition to helping to fund nutritional programs for children across the country, the focus of the charity is children with physical and developmental challenges, said Wayne Wavryk, the President's Choice manager for fundraising.
Families can apply to the charity for assistance, and Wavryk said the group will try to help every qualifying candidate.
"It just sometimes may depend on time, but mostly we can help them within a few weeks or a couple months of them applying to us," he said, adding that funds raised in each province stay close to home.
