June 04, 2009
Woman gives grocery spree to food bank
Eleven families struggling to put food on the table have received a helping hand from a west Phoenix jewelry-store owner who shared her lucky break.
Carol Chappell won a five-minute shopping spree from the Safeway grocery store at Thunderbird Road and 58th Avenue in Glendale after entering $40 in a raffle for children's charities.
Chappell decided to go one step further. She chose to pile her shopping cart with food to donate to the nearby Society of St. Vincent de Paul food bank
"There's so many hungry people out there," said Chappell, owner of Gaston Jewelers in west Phoenix. "There are so many people without jobs who could use it."
Chappell planned ahead to get the most bang for her spree. She and three employees scoped out the aisles beforehand and, on the day of the grocery dash, shopped with two carts.
By the time the group got to the checkout line, they had stuffed $485 worth of goods into the carts. But the spree was limited to $225.
Chappell and her workers each chipped in $50. Safeway manager Ken Gaston, no relation to Chappell's store, threw in an additional $40, and a woman customer walking by added more. In all, they covered the full amount.
"Everyone kept throwing money at the register so they didn't have to put the groceries back," Ryan Narramore of St. Vincent de Paul said.
The 228 pounds of food will last 11 families of four for a week, he said.
The experience was "thrilling," Chappell said.
"It made us all feel very good," she said. "I wish we could do more."
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