York Region runs out of grocery gift cards

Newmarket Era
January 7, 2014
By Sean Pearce

If you were among the estimated 7,000 York Region households without power for more than 48 hours in the aftermath of the pre-holiday ice storm and you haven’t secured a grocery gift card yet, you won’t get one.

The province provided the Regional Municipality of York with fewer than 400 gift cards to dole out to eligible residents, regional spokesperson Kimberley Henderson explained, adding the supply ran out shortly after 1 p.m. today.

Eligible families will receive a $100 gift card valid at Metro and Food Basics, while single people got a $50 card.

The gift cards will arrive in the mail within about two weeks, she added.

To qualify, impacted residents were required to call Access York, Ms Henderson said, noting they were then asked a series of questions to determine their eligibility for the one-time assistance in the form of a government-issued gift card.

To be eligible, residents had to have been without power for more than 48 hours, face financial adversity and they had to be York residents.

Those seeking a card also had to state how many people made up their household.

The provincial grocery gift card program expanded today to York Region and several other parts of the GTA impacted by the Dec. 22 ice storm.

It had a rocky start in Toronto as the attempt at assistance led to long lines and short fuses for people seeking the coveted cards and raised questions about whether those getting their hands on the gift cards actually needed them.

It also resulted in complaints of poor judgement on the province’s part and allegations the government was using the initiative as a publicity stunt to score political brownie points.

Prior to the announcement the province would expand the program, the York Access Contact Centre received more than 100 calls from people eager to find out if the region would receive gift cards, Ms Henderson said.

Callers ranged from people seeking help for themselves to those concerned about friends, neighbours and/or family.

“We called those people back once we found out that the province was providing York Region with grocery cards and asked them to watch our website, Twitter and Facebook for updates,” she said. “People were happy that we called them back.”