Western Canada

Award Recipients

1. Rex Quilapio, Franchise Operator, FreshCo Jefferson, Manitoba

   As a local community champion Rex, exemplifies leadership, commitment, and empathy for those in need. Here are just a few examples: during the Child and Youth Mental Health checkstand campaign his team raised over $12,000.00, crushing their goal.

   Last summer, Rex partnered with Community Helpers United Inc. a non-profit organization to provide 5000 bagged lunches to children in the community who experience food insecurity.

2. Jerry MacLachlan, Franchise Operator, Sobeys Belmont, Edmonton

   Jerry’s store in Belmont, Edmonton was the birthplace of our national industry-leading move to make “Seniors Shopping Hour” a national program. This program ensured that seniors, people with disabilities or with underlying health issues had the opportunity to purchase essential items without the fear of panic buying crowds at the beginning of the pandemic.

   We were so proud when Premier Kenny stopped in to recognize Jerry for his innovation. Jerry is also described by his peers to embody the company’s core values in his store including WIN (Women’s Inclusion Network) and DE&I. His unwavering support of community events and prioritizing regular communication with his team, helped his store through the toughest moments of the pandemic.

3. Jay Faithful, Store Manager, Clearwater, Sobeys, Alberta

   Jay’s leadership went above and beyond after a 16-month store closure and rebuild between the Fort McMurray wildfire of 2016 and Clearwater flood in April 2020. His support and leadership during a critical time was unparallel in how he supported his teammates and community through the fires and the successful reopening and re-entry phase for the Sobeys store.

   Jay and his leadership team reunited in July after more than a year of being closed in the community and started the challenging tasks of rehiring a store team, training and getting the store ready for a late summer opening. Through Jay’s support and guidance, the team hired a great team in a short period of time – which is no small feat in Fort McMurray is a tremendous challenge. Today the doors are open, team is thriving and the cash registers are ringing.

4. Chantel Dunlop, Franchise Operator, Sobeys Cranston, Alberta

   Chantel Dunlop is not only a great mentor and store leader, but a pillar of the Craston community. Her competitive attitude and can-do spirit, ignites passion on her team to drive for success, with programs like OSA, and drives for sales challenges.

   Chantel worked with her team to create a cupcake fundraiser in 2019, in honor of a Mother and daughter who sadly passed away in the Cranston Community. The store rallied together with backstage partners to raise over $25,400 for the family.

   During the pandemic, she assisted smaller businesses in the area by sharing advice on sanitizing, physical distancing etc. so they could feel more comfortable keeping their businesses open.

5. Kimberley Kwok, Store Manager, Safeway, Unity Square, Edmonton

   Kim is the Safeway Employees Association President for Northern Alberta, and a very dedicated and effective leader who works intentionally to add value both within her store, and the organization at large.

   Not only does Kim step up, to support her peers across the district her leadership drives positive results.

   During the “Stop Asian Hate” National event within Sobeys Kim was selected to moderate the event, always stepping up to the challenge to support our DE&I efforts at Empire.

6. Doaa Abdel Azim, Pharmacy Manager, FreshCo Pharmacy, Fort MacMurray

   Doaa has endured adversity and displayed her resiliency as a FreshCo pharmacy manager. She has successfully navigated the pharmacy operation through several natural disasters that have affected her community.

   The Fort McMurray Wildfire of 2016 forced more than 80,000 people to flee their homes and Doaa recalls working that day and the urgency and anxiety the entire city faced. Doaa had just locked up the pharmacy and was on her way out of the store when, she saw several patients urgently needing their medication supply. Doaa did not hesitate to run back into the pharmacy and dispensed the medications to the patients despite the chaos and urgency.

   In 2020, a spring flood forced 13,000 people to flee Fort McMurray and resulted in the precautionary closure of our downtown operations. Doaa worked diligently with our Abbottsfield Pharmacy 8928 in Edmonton to continue our operations, connecting her patients to alternate locations where they could pick up their medications.

7. Sean Mangan, Shift Manager, Bill Sobey RSC, Alberta

   With the severe disruptions caused by the floods we had to immediately re-wire the supply chain for BC. This meant finding several carriers (overnight and without warning) to perform work on routes we were not travelling. This needed to happen at a time where carriers were under extreme demand and costs escalated. This responsibility fell onto Sean.

   Sean worked through an incredible amount of change management effectively and efficiently. He worked days, nights and weekends sacrificing a lot of time as the workload transitioned from order to complexity. Often there were no carriers available and Sean had to navigate work rolling into the next day – as well as managed carriers quoting exorbitant rates to move freight. With the unpredictability on deliveries it also fell onto Sean to communicate the impact of the disruption to affected stores, which also proved to be a major task.

   Sean was also keeping up to date on dynamic road conditions and continually communicating to the carriers and Sobeys drivers updated conditions to best help them decide how and if to proceed city by city. Despite the high levels of complexity and stress, Sean carried himself in a professional manner throughout this challenging period.

8. Bruce Brown, Director, RSC Campbell Heights, B.C.

   Bruce assumed responsibility for the Campbell Heights RSC after a challenging grand opening during the pandemic.  Bruce’s leadership was key in turning the site around and providing stability through numerous site improvements. By stabilizing the site, Bruce was able to provide much needed consistency to our retail network. This site stabilization was made by possible because of Bruce’s incredible commitment and work ethic.

   Bruce has the highest degree of commitment to retail and is a role model when it comes to putting stores first. Stores find him approachable and down to earth, personifying a “can-do” attitude and is always looking for opportunities to improve their service and reduce costs.

9. Kevin Youn, Pharmacy Manager, BC Central Fill Facility, Surrey

   Kevin Youn exemplified a people-powered and stores-first mentality, during the recent floods in British Columbia. His outside of the box and can-do attitude stopped at nothing to take care of his customers – the stores and their patients that rely on central fill.

   When couriers displaced shipments, Kevin did whatever it took to support all BC Safeway and FreshCo stores by filling prescriptions for stores and many nursing home facilities.

   Kevin is the heart of BC pharmacies and truly is an unsung hero who puts our stores and their customers first in everything he does.

10. Corinna Ivey, Store Manager, Sardis Safeway, Chilliwack

    The BC floods were the worst natural disaster to ever hit BC. Corinna took the leadership (remotely during the first two days, and then on site as soon as essential travel routes opened) to triage and empathize with the store team, and then planned and executed a detailed game plan to focus on the community first.

    She ensured the items that were able to come via the essential routes were the ones required most by her customers. The team believes in her leadership and the example she sets to such a degree that most of them put their communities needs before their own and worked tirelessly for 14 days until the main supply routes re-opened.

    In addition, Corinna ensured staff had their needs met whether that meant hotel accommodation, arranged carpooling, payment for commuting via essential routes – a passionate advocate for her team so they could ensure the community remained nourished. Corinna is also a passionate community advocate and was previously awarded a value champion award for Community Engaged. She makes it her mission to engage her team and seek the higher purpose that is there for everyone to attain if they desire.

11. Darcy, Olson, Transportation Manager, RSC Winnipeg

    Darcy always makes himself available, any time of day, to assist and partner with our retail stores to resolve emergency situations, manage major projects and improve day-to-day business opportunities. He has been instrumental in the planning and organizing required to open our FreshCo stores and has saved stores countless times from major refrigeration losses due to power outages, winter storms and mechanical breakdowns.

    Through the recent difficultly of being faced with significant driver shortages, Darcy managed to work through the challenges of winter storms and shipment delays. We can always count on him to be transparent and helpful when concerns are brought forward, and to provide real solutions and resolutions to transport issues.

    Darcy has also served for almost two decades on the Safeway Employee Association board, including acting several years as President, bringing joy and entertainment to Safeway teammates and their families.

12. Daljit Sidhu, Bakery Manager, Lindenridge Safeway

    Dale successfully led the transition of shipping bakery out of the Niakwa Safeway into the Lindenridge Safeway through the pandemic. He independently managed the moving of equipment, product, and personnel. He also supported the merger of two very different bakery departments to build one strong and engaged team. As a shipping bakery, the department is a central hub for other stores to reach out when they need support or have special requests from customers.

    Dale is also very supportive of developing employees for key positions in other stores and an active member of the Sikh Society of Manitoba, and has been for many years. He is also a member of the Commanding Officers Advisory Committee for Culture Diversity with the RCMP. Regarding issues and concerns in the Sikh Community.

13. Courtney Burokas, Store Manager, Safeway Madison, Winnipeg

    Courtney was recognized as a Star Women in Grocery in 2021 for exemplifying our “People-Powered” Core Value. She is extremely supportive of the department manager and store management team which has inspired them to engage their own teams, following Courtney’s lead.

    She is supportive in the growth of women through her role in the regional Women’s Inclusion Network, representing Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario.

    Courtney was also a facilitator in the SMO Networks Speech Sense program. In addition, she worked with the Department Managers team to elevate store standards and the store offering.

14. Armand and Tracey Berube, Franchise Operators, Sobeys Preston Crossing, Saskatoon

    Partnerships with local communities can develop at unexpected times and places. Armand and Tracey Berube, franchise owners of Sobeys Preston Crossing in Saskatoon, were fortunate that the Battleford Agency Tribal Council (in Treaty 6 territory representing 7 Indigenous Bands) offered to support Public Health by opening their COVID vaccination clinics to the general public as clinics.

    At the clinic Neil Sasakamoose, president of Nikihk Manufacturing and son of NHL hockey legend Fred Sasakamoose, was offering samples and demonstrating the cleaning and sanitizing products his Band developed. Armand and Tracey were impressed with the variety and quality of the products so expressed interest in selling the products. This chance meeting has resulted in a great opportunity.

    Armand, Tracey and Nikihk Manufacturing have built a mutually advantageous partnership that had now expanded to more of our stores. Tracey and Armand worked with their Local Development and had the product listed. Today, the product is currently in 19 stores. Sweetgrass First Nation Chief Lorie Whitecalf commented “Growing up on Sweetgrass reserve, going into North Battleford at that time I never dreamed of seeing a product created by our people on the shelves. To see that today, it’s great. It feels like a partnership.”

    Nikihk Manufacturing has been approached by many other retailers but wants to stay with Sobeys because Tracy and Armand have been very loyal and helpful to them.

15. Shannon Mitchell, Store Manager, Safeway University Heights, Saskatoon

    Shannon consistently maintains very high store standards and timely execution of retail programs, she values community and looks for opportunities to build business and customer loyalty.

    Her leadership demonstrates how being aware and receptive to our local community can be rewarding for both the community and our business. In response to a Social Media post by a customer regarding the lack of Kosher and Passover items available in Saskatoon for the Jewish Community, Shannon reached out to the customer help provide locally source items for Passover.

    She was able to secure products for Passover and installed a permanent 24-foot section in the International Aisle to meet the needs of the Jewish community. Since the store has been stocked with Kosher food Rabbi Kats has been in the store every day to check out what’s stocked and to communicate with his community through social media and expressed his gratitude on behalf of his family and their community.

16. Chris Fowler, Franchisee Operator, FreshCo 33rd Street, Saskatoon

    During the pandemic, Chris identified that some of his elderly customers had difficulty getting to his store each week due their health-related challenges. He quickly put a call in delivery service in place for these customers and personally delivers the groceries to his customers each week.

    In partnership with the Friendship Inn which feeds over 1000 meals a day to many of the homeless in the community. Chris and his store team collect monetary donations from customers at his checkouts weekly and provides these donations to the Inn which assists them in purchasing food from his store. Over the past year, over $11k has been donated.

    Chris routinely house plants from his store to the Porteous Lodge which engages the seniors living there to help nurture and care for these plants.

17. Adrian Donohoe, Franchise Operator, Yale & Hodgins FreshCo

    Right on the heels of a daunting fire season, BC was then faced with terrible flooding. Adrian’s store is in Chilliwack, one of the most isolated locations, which saw supply dwindle quickly.

    Adrian helped the Salvation Army send food and supplies via helicopter to the community of Hope, which was even more remote.

    Customers continued to flock to his store and Adrian and his management team prioritized making themselves visible and available to support them, talking to them in the lineups outside of the store, and working with them to ensure they had what they needed.

    Adrian store was the first in the community to finally get trucks through via police escort. He did this by keeping close contact with local RCMP detachment and dispatch to ensure that when roads opened for essential services, their store was there first. Deliveries/stock conditions were communicated via social media and over the instore loudspeaker to ensure up to date and accurate information was available to customers and the community.

18. Daniel Broddy, Franchise Operator, FreshCo, 100 Mile House, B.C.

    Another BC community champion, Daniel is a member of the board of his local church and helped orchestrate food deliveries for local elderly citizens considered at risk during COVID. Orders simply had to be phoned into the store ahead of time, and it would be ready for pickup and delivery by church volunteers.

    The terrible BC fires made their way very close to Daniel’s store, putting the 100 Mile House Community in jeopardy. During this trying time, Daniel worked closely with local RCMP and Fire and Rescue 24/7 to ensure they had all the supplies they required. He also worked with and visited the Fire Camp to see all their needs were met during the fires as well. Daniel made sure he was ‘On-Call’ to support the brave men and women of these crews as they worked to save not only 100 Mile but many other communities as well.