A representative from Walmart Canada says an incident where management at one of its east-Windsor stores refused to allow Windsor Goodfellows to collect on the property is a misunderstanding.
Walmart Canada's Senior Director of Corporate Affairs Alex Roberton reached out to AM800 News Saturday morning.
He says management at the 7100 Tecumseh Rd. E. location informed Goodfellows that the Salvation Army was already collecting inside and asked Goodfellows to collect in the parking lot.
Goodfellows volunteers then told the manager they would just collect at Tecumseh Mall instead and left, according to Roberton.
That's not the case, says Goodfellows Chair Bruce Tait.
"I was advised by the Goodfellows team captain out there, that they were in the parking lot and someone came out and instructed them to leave the parking lot," says Tait, who pointed out the organization would be in the parking lot anyways, not inside.
Tait says, while they have collected at the location in the past, but it's always been an uphill battle.
"This is the third year they said they've had a problem with going on the property, and we've tried to approach the Walmart people and it hasn't been resolved," he says. "We're going to be trying harder next year to get this straightened out."
Goodfellows gathers money that provides holiday meals, gifts, stock for food banks, school breakfasts, children with shoes and boots, for thousands of families that can't help themselves throughout Windsor-Essex.