GORE BAY – It has no doubt been tough at times for anyone to find something to be thankful for in 2020 with the current COVID-19 pandemic; however, a Gore Bay business was able to engender words of hope and inspiration—all of which adorned the Thankful Tree at My Ol’ Blues store in Gore Bay. Those words of hope and encouragement ended up supporting the Manitoulin Food Bank.
On Christmas Eve store owner Kathy Antonio and employees counted all the cards that customers had put on the Thankful Tree. Ms. Antonio explained, “the thankful tree was put up (in November) and customers wrote on a card what they were thankful for. For every card put on the tree by a customer, we are donating $1 to the Manitoulin Family Resources (MFR) food bank.”
Ms. Antonio pointed out, “so we are able to provide a donation of $220 to the Food Bank from My Ol’ Blues. We would like to thank all our customers for participating.”
Customers didn’t have to purchase anything to fill out a card and put it on the Thankful Tree. Ms. Antonio had explained previously that the store usually purchases all of their recycled denim from the MFR second hand store Thrift Shop in Mindemoya, but that store has been closed due to the pandemic and the food bank is currently using the space. Because My Ol’ Blues has not been able to generate funds for MFR through the purchase of denim, MFR lost this source of funds from the business, which led to the Thankful Tree concept.
