With construction headaches impacting everyone around town, Cochranites Paul Singh and Kelsey Yochim decided to give back to both local businesses and members in the community through their Support Local Bottle Drive.
The drive took place from Sept. 3 to 9, with the goal of providing support for businesses that are affected by construction on 1st Street and Centre Avenue. Singh said the idea came from a conversation with Yochim about how the ongoing road work was impacting local business owners.
“Those are the businesses who help us when we have our events and stuff,” Singh said. “We go to them and ask – Hey could you help us or sponsor us, and open-heartedly they support us.”
With many of the family-run businesses creating local jobs, Singh said it is important to support these pillars of the community as they serve as the backbone of the local economy.
“I think it’s important that we support each other in times of need,” Singh said. “As I said before, in our times of need, like when we need to host events, they support us.
“And when they need us, I think the community came forward to support them as well.”
Through the drive, Singh said the duo raised $742.50 collecting bottles from generous donations from members of the community. He added that Yochim will be using the money to purchase gift cards from several local businesses.
“I would say it’s a collective outfit,” Singh said. “It’s me and Kelsey, and we just put out a Facebook ad, and I appreciate all the people who donated bottles, and some of the people who I didn’t even collect from. They just showed up and put their bottles in.”
Singh added that the drive saw additional support from other local businesses who support one another.
“So, it shows businesses supporting each other as well,” Singh said. “And this is what our community is about – helping each other at times when we need that.”
With the drive wrapped up, Singh said that they plan to randomly select members of the community through a special raffle. All participants need to do is comment on his Facebook page or a Cochrane-based community page their favorite thing about the Town. Singh added that he is also accepting entries via text at (403) 608-1615.
“What people love about Cochrane,” Singh said. “It could be anything positive or they can tell me about, ‘Hey, we love the food, we love Cochrane,’ or whatever it could be. We want to keep and cherish that spirit.”
Singh said he would like to say thank you to all the people and businesses who supported the initiative, and those who came forward to support the bottle drive.
“I’m so happy that we started this, and we couldn’t do this without the support of our Cochranites,” Singh said.
