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Kelowna  

Taking time to share a meal

Hundreds of people sat down across from total strangers in Kelowna's Real Canadian Superstore parking lot Saturday and shared a meal.

The President's Choice Eat Together tour, which encourages participants to take time to eat meals with others, stopped by Kelowna Saturday on their tour across Canada.

“From the stats, there's an epidemic of loneliness,” said Kevin Andrews with President's Choice. “In the past few years we've seen that grow. As we're more connected to technology, sometimes the irony is that we're less connected to humans face-to-face.”

While the rain came down hard Saturday afternoon, it was all smiles under the tents. 

The idea was started three years ago, and Andrews says the response has been overwhelming.

“In today's world, it's easy not to sit across the table and have conversations with your friends and your family and people who matter most, and food is the conduit to many of those interactions,” he said. "Our message is simple, we just want to bring Canadians back together and encourage them to eat together.”

As a part of the tour, President's Choice is donating $1 to their President's Choice Children's Charity for every person who pledges to eat together more often, up to $250,000. On Saturday, the number of pledges was over 450,000.

The tour is coming from Vancouver, and heading east, culminating with an event in Halifax on June 14.

Those in Kelowna Saturday were treated to a burger, salad, chips and drink.

“We believe in it wholeheartedly as an organization,” Andrews said. “We're not trying to push products, we're not selling products. For us, it's the notion of eating together.”



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