For over a year, Fountain Tire in Penticton has been fixing flat tires by donation, which has brought thousands of dollars to local charities.
The Penticton Rotary Starfish backpack program is the latest to benefit from the flat tire program.
With the help of a lot of generous donors during the month of August, Fountain Tire owner Chuck Thompson donated a whopping $3,974 to the Starfish backpack program.
Starfish program chair Tracy Van Raes picked up the cheque this week, saying the amount will feed five kids on the weekends all year long.
The Starfish program sends vulnerable students home on the weekends with a backpack full of food to make sure they have enough food to eat when not at school.
“We started this program last August. We were looking for ways to give back to our community and our oldest son Patrick gave us the idea,” said Thompson.
“We feel that the best way to build a stronger community is to get involved and support where you can.”
Each month Thompson, with help from his staff, chooses a local charity to contribute to. When people come in with a flat tire in need of repair, the staff at Fountain Tire do the fix for free with only the suggestion of a donation to the monthly charity.
Over the last year, Penticton Fountain Tire has donated to OSNS, SOS Brain Injury, The Legion Poppy foundation, Salvation Army food bank, SOWINS, ALERT animal rescue, Discovery House, Wilms Cancer Foundation and now the Starfish program.
Fountain Tire is located at 359 Dawson Avenue.
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