COCHRANE— A group of local philanthropists have banded together under the banner Support Cochrane Businesses 2021 on Facebook to offer their aid to the local business community.
The collective has been raising money through bottle drives and donations and buying gift cards to local spots which they raffle off to the supporters of the page, and, in one instance, even covered one business’ license fees for the year.
The group is supported by the efforts of more than 20 individuals, said Marni Fedeyko, one of the group’s organizing members.
Fedeyko said a few of the founding members put out a call to their friends and contacts within the community, and those people added others, and the group grew in a very natural way.
Co-founder Paul Singh said that the idea for the group was born out of the want of a few friends to help the community as whole during the COVID-19 pandemic— It was not too long after that when businesses began to get involved as well.
The original purpose was to shine a light on the businesses in Cochrane that are struggling under the burden of the recent public health restrictions, Singh said.
To help showcase businesses, the group has a lottery system giving followers of the Support Cochrane Businesses page a fun chance to win prizes.
The group so far has received several donations from local businesses and people looking to help other shops in the community. To date they have raised more than $500 through fundraising efforts.
The businesses that are selected to be the beneficiaries of the program are nominated by community members who follow the Facebook page.
Although the group has been handing out prizes and drawing attention to their support local initiative, they are always coming up with new ways to help out the community.
“We had a lot of ideas initially,” Fedeyko said. “There’s been talk about having an auction, so we might have gift certificates to give out, but we would ask people to bid on them. So, we would constantly be raising money only for that money to go back out into the community— Back to support those same businesses.”
Many businesses have had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and are having an extremely tough year and in many cases, things are only getting harder. Fedeyko said in a climate like that, it is important for grassroots, community-based groups to give back.
“The ones that have been hit hard seem to continually get hit hard. That’s the unfortunate part. How can you expect, especially someone that’s even a home-based business and doing hair, to be able to survive after that many shutdowns,” she said. “It was kind of to step in and intervene, but really on the grassroots level— No organization, it’s not like a non-profit or anything like that, it’s just a way for people to come together and say ‘we support you.’”
Fedeyko said she foresees the need for this type of community support to continue for some time.
“Although they’ll be able to open there are still tight restrictions on the amount of numbers, who they can service, and you have to remember there’s a lot of people out there with job uncertainty,” she said.
Uncertainty is a huge contributing factor to the success of local businesses, especially those in the arena of esthetics, and many people who would be spending money on those sorts of things are tightening their proverbial financial belts.
For Fedeyko, the experience of being involved with the Support Cochrane Businesses has been a good reminder of the generosity of the community.
“It never ceases to amaze me— The generosity that you see. Whether it’s from a business giving to an initiative, or a person giving to a business to help an initiative, or whatever it is, the community rallies. We protect what we have, and I think that’s the kind of heart, no matter how big we get, that’s what you always see.”
To find out more about the initiative, follow Support Cochrane Businesses 2021 on Facebook.
