Support Kamloops Video Spotlight
#ykastrong continues share stories of business resilience and inspiration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the announcement of Phase 3 for BC.
BC’s Restart Plan, we’ve shifted to feature businesses and their outlook on Supporting Kamloops.
Videos by Aspect Filmworks.
Houle Electric
As an essential service, Houle Electric was able to keep their staff working and serve the needs of our community. They continually take steps to ensure they are providing safe, quality work for their customers. A big thank you to all the Kamloops tradesmen for being such an integral part of the local economy.
BDO Kamloops
BDO Kamloops quickly pivoted to online services for their clients by offering free webinars, digital meetings and support. They commend the work of their clients for pivoting their own businesses and adapting to work safely with the BDO team. As an essential service, they made a point to eat local and have food ordered for their staff.
Aspect Film Works
Alex O’Daly, owner of Aspect Film Works, was seeing uplifting stories on social media and on the news of locals making a positive impact during these uncertain times. As a filmmaker and storyteller, her passion is to move people and create an emotional connection when watching a video. This led Alex and her partner, Kathleen Fisher Photography, to document locals in our community who were going above and beyond, and share their stories with the Kamloops community. Thank you Alex for helping highlight businesses and Kamloopsians throughout these challenging times – together we are #ykastrong.
Kamloops Eat Clean Express
Roberta Nechvatal has been planning her express service clean eating restaurant for years, and opened the doors to Eat Clean Express and Meal Prep in February of 2020. When the pandemic caused her newly opened storefront to close just a month after opening, Roberta was blown away by the support of the local community. It’s because of you Kamloops that Eat Clean Express and Meal Prep is here to stay.
Kamloops Airport
The tourism and travel industry plays a significant role in the local Kamloops economy. The Kamloops Airport (YKA) has amplified measures for safe air travel to mitigate heightened health risks for locals and visitors flying in and out of the city.
Tumbleweed Toys
Tumbleweed Toys knows the importance of support from the local community, so they have made it easier for Kamloops to visit their business. This includes: ✔️curbside pickup ✔️a limited number of people in the store at once ✔️new e-commerce website The team has been making sure every customer is comfortable with the shopping experience they are providing and is grateful for the community support.
Kamloops River City Nissan
Today, we are featuring Sean Turner and his team at River City Nissan. They’re often recognized for being a community champion contributing to local sports teams, charities, and businesses. Shopping at River City Nissan supports their 40+ employees, many of them friends, neighbours and family who in turn reinvest in our community.
Kamloops Home Hardware
Rick Kurzac and his team at Kamloops Home Hardware quickly pivoted when COVID-19 hit with safety of their staff and customers becoming #1 priority. With folks at home working on projects, the support from the local community kept their business busy and the patience of their customers adhering to new store protocols was amazing. The Kurzac family is beyond grateful for the support from the Kamloops community.
Kamloops GK Sound
Events may have been cancelled, but Greg Klohn and his team are still giving back to the community. Contributions include a public light display at TRU to salute the front line workers and for the 2020 TRU graduates, and coming on as a partner for the Pop-Up Drive In Theatre. Greg is so grateful for the clients supporting local and working with GK Sound to come up with out of the box solutions.
YKA Video Spotlight
YKAStrong celebrates local business pivots and remarkable Kamloopsians. We follow story makers highlighting hope and resiliency in a time of uncertainty – a testament to being stronger together.
Videos by Aspect Filmworks.
Pixel & Pepper Kamloops
YKAstrong celebrates the co-founders of Pixel + Pepper who have pivoted their marketing agency company and created an online conference for photographers. Conference and chill is a live, worldwide, three-day online conference for that will take place June 1-3. Pixel + Pepper’s co-founder Stacy Krolow has pulled speakers and participants from all over the world for learning, games, contests, giveaways, paint nights, lip sync battles and yoga – all from your living room.
Virtual Fitness in Kamloops
YKAstrong celenbrates Yoga Now Kamloops, K Spin Indoor Cycling Studio, and BARRE Kamloops. They were just a few of the fitness studios in town that quickly pivoted to offer free online classes to keep our community moving and healthy at home. KSpin also offered bike rentals and delivered spin bikes to members that continued to pay their membership. Other local studios that kept the community moving for free include Ladies Only Fitness, Kamloops Fit Centre, Oxygen Kamloops Aberdeen, Fit By Design, F3Fit, and Orangetheory Fitness Kamloops.
Sew the Curve Kamloops
YKAstrong celebrates all the volunteer seamsters at Sew the Curve Kamloops who have been providing masks to essential frontline workers and to people who are vulnerable in our community. So far, these wonderful people have made over 12,000 masks for the community.
Accent Inns Kamloops
YKAstrong celebrates Julie Pullen, General Manager of Accent Inns Kamloops. Julie had a hard time laying off over half her staff at the Accent Inns, so she helped them find new jobs to make sure they would be ok. At the same time, the Accent Inns team caught wind that front-line workers across the province were sleeping in their cars because they did not want to expose their families to the virus, so they came up with the lowest rate possible to provide to front line workers rooms.
BC Wildlife Park Kamloops
YKAstrong celebrates the BC Wildlife Park with highlights of their strategy for opening June 1 and Kamloops’ support during the pandemic. The animals and staff can’t wait to see you again soon.
Western Canada Theatre Kamloops
YKAstrong highlights Western Canada Theatre who had to cancel the last 4 productions of the 2019/20 season, including Chelsea Hotel that was about to premiere. With the cast already here, an abrupt business pivot showcased a live streamed performance of Leonard Cohen songs from the balcony of the Riverland Inn & Suites. These streaming skills also allowed the staff at WCT to pivot other aspects of theatre to an online experience, helping to keep the arts alive in Kamloops. 🎭
Kamloops Regional Farmers Market
YKAStrong celebrates local business Kamloops Regional Farmers’ Market. They have pivoted their operating strategy to ensure all local food vendors are able to sell their goods and still provide safe, nutritious, fresh food to Kamloops. Greg Unger and his team opened an online store and established a curbside pickup plan to keep shoppers safe. If you are attending the market, you will notice fewer access points to enter the market, more space between vendors, and controlled numbers of shoppers in the market at any given time to ensure everyone has the space to stay 6 feet apart.
NuTech Safety Kamloops
YKAStrong celebrates local business Bob Dieno of NuTech Safety Ltd. He is providing mask fit testing at no cost to all front line workers in Kamloops. To receive the free services, you don’t have to be a Nu-Tech client and you don’t have to purchase your masks from Nu-Tech. Bob and his team just want to ensure all of Kamloops’ front line workers are as safe as possible. What’s your story? Visit ykastrong.com for resources, tools and information during the COVID-19 crisis.
Mike Miltimore of Riversong Guitars Kamloops
YKAStrong celebrates local business Mike Miltimore of Riversong Guitars. He has modified the machine he uses to produce wooden guitar picks, to make ear savers for healthcare workers in Kamloops at no cost.
Orchards Walk Medical Clinic Kamloops
We would like to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother figures out there! In honour of Mother’s Day, our next video highlights Supporting Team Excellence with Patients Society (STEPS), a not-for-profit society that owns and operates Orchards Walk Medical Clinic. STEPS has partnered with the Thompson Region Obstetrics Group to move their services from the hospital to Orchards Walk Medical Clinic to offer quality, team-based care in Kamloops. The pivot alleviates the number of patients that have to go to the hospital and gives pregnant and new mothers peace of mind to know that everything has been done to safeguard them during the pandemic.
Cookshack Cravings and Munden Ventures Ltd.
Our launch video features Cookshack Cravings and Munden Ventures Ltd. who are providing meals for truck drivers at a local truck stop. Do you have a story to share? Share your story with us in the comments below.
The Mount Paul Community Food Centre
The Mount Paul Community Food Centre is keeping our Kamloops community healthy and fed, and have served almost 4,000 meals in the first month of this pandemic. What’s your story?
Video by Aspect Filmworks.