'Grocery Grab' a success

(Participants in Friday's "Grocery Grab" at Dave's Supermarket)

Certain shoppers at Dave’s Supermarket Friday morning weren’t shopping at your average pace. They were racing through the store.

It was part of the 2024 Grocery Grab sponsored by the Fairbury Rotary Club, which is being considered a success. The fundraiser benefitted the club which has been active with charitable giving for a number of years along with scholarships for local students.

“The Fairbury Rotary Club is a community-minded project and Rotary is actually an international project,” explained Rotarian Keith Bahler.

This was the first year for the Rotary Grocery Grab where several tickets were sold and winners were announced last week prior to the race. The $500 grocery winners included Paul Coomber and Steve Weeks (gifted to Kim Retter). Those winning $250 included Morton Community Bank (gifted to the Fairbury Food Pantry) and Rube Ward.

Participants had a couple of minutes to race through the store and fill grocery carts with as many groceries as possible. Some headed straight for the meat case while others focused on produce and the frozen food aisle.

“Most people got exactly what they won – either $500 or $250, so that worked out well with the timing we had,” said Fairbury Rotary President Sue Popejoy.

In addition to Rotary and Dave’s, other supporters of the Grocery Grab included Prudent Community Energy, Bahler Transportation, Nussbaum ACE Hardware, Rebecca A. Sommer Tax & Accounting, Popejoy Plumbing, Heating, Electrical and Geothermal, Walton Centre, Morton Community Bank, Once ‘n Again, Bank of Pontiac and Doug and Janet Ellis-Nelson.

“We were very thankful for all of the sponsors we have here,” added Popejoy.

Organizers hope this becomes an annual event in Fairbury.

(Representatives of the Fairbury Rotary and Dave's Supermarket shown Friday morning)

(One participant's cart stuffed full of groceries from the "Grocery Grab" 2024 at Dave's)