Starla Pointer / News-Register##Cindy Shultz unpacks the carts she filled with ravioli, chicken and other items as Sheryl Ryker of Grocery Outlet rings up the shopping spree purchases. Shultz planned to donate the food to YCAP.

60 seconds of chicken and ravioli

Sixty seconds isn’t enough time to boil an egg, to run a mile, or even to play Chopin’s so-called “Minute” waltz. But it proved to be enough time for a local teacher and animal supporter to load two shopping carts with canned chicken, ravioli and other protein-rich foods Friday morning.

“Whoooo, that was fun!” said Cindy Shultz, who teaches at McMinnville High School and serves as adviser for the school’s Homeward Bound Pets Club.

She also had a blast when she followed up by dropping her loot off at the Yamhill Community Action Partnership’s regional food bank. “This was my birthday present, getting the food and donating it,” said Shultz, who celebrated a birthday Aug. 8.

She won the one-minute Grocery Outlet shopping spree in an auction at Homeward Bound’s 40th anniversary gala, held Aug. 1. Her intent all along was to donate most of the food she managed to pull from the shelves, although she did keep a couple bags of her favorite coffee beans.

Shultz went to Grocery Outlet in mid-week to study the layout. At 7 a.m. Friday, the appointed time for her spree, she raced directly to the coffee.

Then she headed to Aisle 8 for the cans of chicken and ravioli. “YCAP is always saying it needs proteins,” she explained.

As the seconds ticked away quickly, Shultz lifted case after case of cans into her carts. All the while, her husband, Eric, was joined by friends, colleagues and store employees in urging her on.

“Five, four, three, two, one,” store owner Sheryl Ryker counted down over the intercom as Shultz grabbed her final cans.

At the checkstand, Ryker scanned the cans. She hit the total button: $238.25.

Shultz and her supporters cheered.

“Shall we just put this in the donation bins?” someone asked, pointing to barrels Grocery Outlet and its customers had filled with $4,221 worth of food for YCAP during a July drive.

“Nope,” Shultz said. “It’s my birthday. I want to take this to YCAP myself.”