COVID-19's Impact to Businesses

Dear Chamber Members,

If your business is running special promotions (take-out, delivery, discounts), operating modified business hours, has special COVID-19 distancing protocols etc that you would like conveyed to other members and the public please let us know via email to cookstown.chamber.president@gmail.com or Facebook (tag Pam Arnold Playter or Cookstown, Ontario Chamber of Commerce) and we will get the info out to your client base.  I post any Chamber member message that comes up in my feed but Facebook algorithms being what they are I don't see everything so please tag myself or the Chamber so that I can see it and share it.  

I would also like to suggest that if you have a business that has temporarily closed (like mine!) and you can not see people face to face, now is a good time to record videos of information on your company, surveys, how-to videos, jokes!, helpful tips to people stuck at home...anything!  So many people are stuck at home glued to their internet soaking up anything they see on-line.  Your target client base is looking for something to watch and that something might as well be YOUR video.   Again, once you have it, tag me or the Chamber so that I can share it!

We are all in this together.  The more we can promote each other and promote safer alternatives for social distancing, hopefully the sooner business can go back to normal.

Thanks
Pam
Chamber President

Monitor COVID-19

HOW YOU CAN HELP - INNISFIL's CHRISTMAS FOR KIDS

These are very difficult times for families who now have no income coming in. Innisfil's Christmas for Kids is a year round charity that provides not only gifts and food at Christmas but helps families year round with birthday presents and essential food. Right now several families that Christmas for Kids supports have asked for assistance with groceries, toiletries and activities for kids who are at home. As a community, the Chamber of Commerce is reaching out to anyone who has the means to please help get these families through until they can go back to work and school.
How you can help:
1. Purchase gift cards for Foodland, The Cookstown Pub, Master Burger, Subway, Lui's Pizza, Toast, Hotstacks, Charlie Browns or Pharmasave and donate them to Christmas for Kids to distribute. Or donate cash to C4K and they will buy the supplies needed for the families.
2. If you know of a family in need that is not connected to Christmas for Kids please direct them to the Christmas for Kids website where they can put their names on the list for help.
To contact Christmas for Kids:
Call Debra Harrison at 705-627-6952 or email her at sndharrison@sympatico.ca

For more information about Christmas for Kids please visit www.christmasforkids.ca
Thanks for your help!

Together we can get through this.

BUSINESS UPDATES

If you are a business owner, or you know of an update in our community that is impacted by Covid-19, please share below:

Learn More - ONTARIO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

MAY 13, 2020

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce released Collaboration in a Crisis: A Memo from COVID-19, see on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
To help inform relief and recovery efforts, the OCC has released this report as the second in a series of policy briefs touching on various aspects of the COVID-19 crisis.
They have created a Chamber Network Toolkit to support the release.
The toolkit includes:
· Overview
· Social posts and graphics (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)
· Key Messaging
· Policy Brief 2: Collaboration in a Crisis: A Memo from COVID-19

The kit can be found in this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/inkhz35zcnejjbq/AAAPgPD4iZ6BKBQVX-OadEvua?dl=0

For any questions, please reach out to:
Ariel Benjamin
Specialist, Public Affairs
Ontario Chamber of Commerce
2105 - 180 Dundas Street West, Toronto ON M5G 1Z8
arielbenjamin@occ.ca | Office: 647-243-3561| occ.ca | @OntarioCofC