Somebody, it seems, has a grudge against my neighbourhood grocery store. For the fourth time in a month, a deranged terrorist wannabe has stuck pins into food in the deli and bakery sections of the Oakridge Co-op in southwest Calgary.
That’s my store. It’s my Co-op. Like many people in this area, I’m both a customer and a shareholder. So an attack on that store feels like an attack on my family.
Will this loser’s attacks stop me from shopping there? Not a chance.
Over the 15 years that I have been a customer at the Oakridge Co-op I have become connected with many of the staff on a personal level. Nina in the Kiddie Coral. Sunil in produce. Melodie, Mary, Luda, Kevin, Kathleen, Des, Andrew, Les and Adrian on the checkout line. These are all good people caught up in a bad situation that is far beyond their control.
I feel terrible about it. I can see what they are going through. In some departments, hours have been cut severely. Some of the poorest and oldest have been the hardest hit and are now having trouble making ends meet at home.
I have no intention of abandoning these people over a handful of stick pins. In fact, I would like to emphatically encourage everybody in Oakridge and the surrounding communities to take a stand against this terrorist and make a special effort to buy your groceries at the Co-op until this freak is caught.
Show him that our loyalty to the people who work at our Co-op is stronger than our fear of his futile attempts to terrorize us.
The Oakridge Co-op and the staff who work there are part of our community. They support our schools, our community association and dozens of local groups with donations throughout the calendar year.
They give boy scouts a section of their parking lot to raise money by selling Christmas trees every year. They allow girl guides to set up shop and sell cookies outside their front door. They donate all of the food for the Louis Riel School back-to-school barbecue in September.
They have supported our activities for years. Now it’s our turn to be there for them — and for their families.
