THIS BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT SHINES ON
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Throughout the year, people purchasing groceries at Your Independent Grocer stores have the opportunity to donate to the PC Children’s Charity which funds projects for kids across the country. But once a year for a two-week period, the focus of the charity drive turns local and store owners can select an organization in their own community to direct the funds to.
From July 25 to August 8, all donations made at check-out at Bullock’s Independent will be given to Community Living Huntsville.
But it’s not just about fundraising. It’s about awareness, too. The organization also has an information table set up near the stairs, and Community Living Huntsville staff, clients, and volunteers will spend time bagging groceries in the store.
Community Living Huntsville supports and advocates for people living with the label of developmental disability in north Muskoka by promoting inclusion, supporting individual rights, and helping people live independently, find employment or volunteer work, and make social connections.
Bullock’s Independent is one of Huntsville’s inclusive employers. Josh Sararas (pictured above, third from left) currently works in the produce department and is one of three Community Living Huntsville clients at the store.
“It is an interesting experience,” says Sararas. When he started at the store he was a display cleaner and says he had to “go suddenly from having finesse into having just raw speed” when he switched areas. The produce department is a busy place.
The job has given him a good inside look into retail, he says, and adds that he is mostly treated like any other employee. “Woohoo, I have a label. Who cares?”
His manager, Byron Faubert, says Sararas has been a big help. “It’s always busy and it’s good having an extra set of hands. We just put our heads down and go.”
Store owners, Darcy Bullock and Alycia Simmons, say community support for the organization is important.
“There’s no real funding for people with developmental disabilities that are looking for jobs past 18 (years of age),” says Bullock. They attended one of Community Living Huntsville’s inclusion tours and “it really hit home that there’s not a lot of support so we want to try to help out. It’s close to Alycia’s family, too—she has an aunt with Down syndrome…it’s something we want to make sure we support.”
As for the store’s employees who are from CLH, Bullock says, “They are fantastic. They bring smiles to everyone’s faces every day.”
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