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Vernon grocer bundles up big donation for hospice

Butcher Boys raised more than $20K for the North Okanagan Hospice Society
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Vernon’s Butcher Boys Grocery Store presented the North Okanagan Hospice Society with a cheque for $20,565 from its 14th annual fundraising campaign for the hospice Friday, Dec. 9, 2022. (Brendan Shykora - Morning Star)

The North Okanagan Hospice Society (NOHS) received a major funding boost from a Vernon grocery store.

During its 14th annual fundraising campaign for the society, Butcher Boys raised $20,565, all of which will support NOHS’s palliative and end-of-life care.

“We had lost one of our store managers in 2008 … so we did a fundraiser every year since his passing to thank hospice for taking such good care of him,” said store manager Tamsen White. “Hospice touches everybody. I know that they have taken good care of my grandma — I called her Darling — in 2005, and even just as a kid going in there it feels like home, it doesn’t feel like you’re going to say goodbye to someone, it’s such a comfortable environment to be with your loved ones through the toughest time of your lives.”

The fundraising campaign took place over 10 weeks, and each week White published a video on Instagram announcing the winner of Butcher Boys’ weekly meat draw, as well as the fundraising challenges between staff members. At the checkout counters, people were invited to add $5 for Hospice to their grocery bill — and many obliged.

SilverStar Mountain Resort and Bannister Honda also chipped in $2,000 each.

“We just want to give a huge thanks to Butcher Boys and their campaign, we looked forward to seeing their videos every week and all the staff here who did challenges every week, it made it a very exciting campaign it really got the community involved,” said Lisa Matthews, executive director of NOHS.

“I really think (the videos) gave it great energy, and we see the results of that, and that’s thanks to Tamsen and the team here at Butcher Boys.”

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Brendan Shykora
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Brendan Shykora

About the Author: Brendan Shykora

I started as a carrier at the age of 8. In 2019 graduated from the Master of Journalism program at Carleton University.
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