Ribbon cutting opens Barstow Food 4 Less fuel center

BARSTOW • The new Food 4 Less fuel center opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrated by community members, schools, representatives from the grocery chain and Miss and Miss Teen Barstow on Wednesday morning.

Donations from Food 4 Less totaling $7,500 were split between three local schools: Barstow High, Barstow Junior High and Thompson Elementary.

Barstow High principal Derrick Delton said part of the donation will go toward the high school band.

Thompson Elementary, a recent adopter of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program, will use their donation to enhance its parent program. Theresa Gonzales is the principal.

“With our STEM program, we wanted to include parents, as we’re looking at 21st Century learning skills,” she said. “We’re going to buy a Brick Lab program so parents and students can interact with math and engineering skills.”

A Brick Lab is similar to LEGO bricks and aims to involve students in the disciplines of construction engineering, math, physics and communications.

Jeff Gerome, district manager at Food 4 Less, said the new fuel center brought approximately 12 to 15 new jobs to the city.

The fuel center features seven gas pumps offering 14 fueling stations. Customers will also be able to purchase items such as ice, soft drinks, tobacco products, candy, chewing gum and automotive products. It will be open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily with unattended transactions at the pump overnight.

“We’re excited to open a new Fuel Center at our Barstow Food 4 Less store,” Brian Kaltenbach, president of Food 4 Less, said in a press release. “We know that our customers are busy and we believe that our new Fuel Center will provide one more convenience to the one-stop-shopping experience at Food 4 Less.”