Getting rid of some spare change can go a long way at one Nanaimo grocery store.
University Village’s Quality Foods grocery store is just one of a number of local supporters participating in the Nanaimo Bulletin’s annual Coins for Kids campaign.
Money raised by Coins for Kids, which is a year-round campaign, benefits the Great Nanaimo Toy Drive and the Boys and Girls Club of Central Vancouver Island. The organizations use the money to buy gifts for children who otherwise would be empty-handed on Christmas morning.
Tony Mitchell, store manager, said that his store has been participating in Coins for Kids for years.
“It’s always been something we’ve done,” he said. “We are always into helping out the community.”
The Coins for Kids campaign first began in 1996 as Pennies for Presents. Since then, Nanaimo readers have raised more than $170,000 for charities in the city at Christmas.
Most titles with the Black Press family of newspapers, which owns the News Bulletin, participate in the annual coin drive.
The campaign was renamed Coins for Kids in 2013 as a result of the Royal Canadian Mint’s decision to eliminate the Canadian one-cent coin.
Coins can be dropped off at University Village or any Quality Foods location, Cline Medical Centre, which is located on 233 Prideaux St., or the News Bulletin, 777 Poplar St., from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please call 250-734-4621.