In a recent event, McCains Foods, Western Tractor and J.E.B. Transport have teamed up to give away around 7,500 bags of French fries at Western Tractor locations across southern Alberta, in a Free Fry Day event, as a means to both help fundraise for HALO Air Ambulance and support Canadian potato farmers.

“We felt that there was a need for us to step out as a company that supports this region and do something that not only promoted the potato industry, and some education on why it’s important, and why we need our consumers out there, consuming this product, even when our restaurants are shuttered at the moment,” said Steven Dyck, president of Western Tractor, at a kickoff event last week at Perry Produce Ltd. near Coaldale.

“A lot of families and a lot of jobs are on the line, not only on farming operations like the Perry Produce family has, but also in the plants that produce this potato product.”

Overall, they hope to raise USD100,000 for HALO. “The connection to the farming and ranching community goes back to our very beginnings, and we’ve been on missions where we’ve gone to help in farming and ranching, doing what they love to do and have done in their families for years, so it’s a natural fit — we’re here to help them when they need us, and right now, HALO needs them, and they’re really stepping up,” said Paul Carolan, CEO of HALO Air Ambulance.

“We’re so very, very humble and grateful, and without this sort of support, we would absolutely be looking at a big scale back on the program.”

Earlier this month, HALO had put out a press release on their financial shape, as the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic decimated their ability to fundraise and was forcing them to scale back, and potentially shut, their operations unless they received significant help. HALO does not have a steady form of funding from the province, and most of their fundraising is event-based.

“With the onset of COVID-19 and restaurants closing, that dropped the demand for French fries, we’re out here to support our grower base, and help them,” Jeremy Carter, senior field manager for McCain Foods Western Canada.