Supermarket Sweep - Spree winner donates to food bank

By DIANA PARKER
TODAY’S NEWS-HERALD
The good fortune of the two lucky winners of the annual Lions Club Shopping Spree will ripple out to hundreds of needy people this holiday season. The first place winner of the Nov. 14 drawing, Joan Williamson of Phoenix, donated her shopping spree to Interagency’s Community Food Bank. Food bank Director Howard Weiske took Williamson’s place Saturday for three minutes of shopping abandon at Bashas’ grocery story on Maricopa Avenue. He was joined by secondplace
winner Steve Buckalew, of Lake Havasu City, who had a minute and a half to clear the shelves. “You might say I’m well-prepared,” Weiske said, displaying a chart of the store and a list of target foods. “All the food will go into the Christmas boxes we’ll be giving out later this month.” When the bell rang, Weiske —
assisted by Lions Club member Dody Lee as shopping cart driver — headed straight for the canned fruit. Then he dashed down the aisle to the canned meats where he tossed stacks of tuna fish and Spam into his heavily laden cart. A quick hit on the soup aisle, and the three minutes were up. “We go through about a thousand
cans of vegetables just to fill the food boxes and four to five hundred cans of fruit, so this is tremendous,” Weiske said. The Community Food Bank will distribute 300 food boxes for Christmas, he said.Virginia, was the official winner of the spree, but she was out of town Saturday and sent Steve in her place. “I’ve kind of looked
around, and I realize I’m not going to waste my time running around from aisle to aisle, so I’ve picked one aisle,” he said beforehand. “I can do all the damage I possible can on one aisle.” Buckalew attacked aisle one, which contains non-perishable items such as house wares and cleaning supplies and came away with $657.18
worth of pool supplies, laundry soap, light bulbs and a coffee pot. “My wife is going to be blown away!” Buckalew said. Anyone who saw Howard Weiske and his wife, Linda, pushing two carts full of shopping bags to their truck might have assumed they have a large family. In a sense, they’d be right. “This is a very important
part of phase one of feeding 300 families, Weiske said. You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews. com. Once rung up by Store Director Scott Pattinson, the value of Weiske’s spree, including a $50 gift card that can be used to purchase meat, came to $454.04. Second-place winner Buckalew took a more concentrated approach to his minute-and-a-half spree. His wife,Virginia, was the official winner of the spree, but she was out of town Saturday and sent Steve in her place.“I’ve kind of looked around, and I realize I’m not going to waste my time running around from aisle to aisle, so I’ve picked one aisle,” he said beforehand. “I can do all the damage I possible can on one aisle.” Buckalew attacked aisle one, which contains non-perishable items such as house wares and cleaning supplies and came away with $657.18 worth of pool supplies, laundry soap, light bulbs and a coffee pot.“My wife is going to be blown away!” Buckalew said. Anyone who saw Howard Weiske and his wife, Linda, pushing two carts full of shopping bags to their truck might have assumed they have a large family. In a sense, they’d be right.“This is a very important part of phase one of feeding 300 families, Weiske said. You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews.com.