Economic Support & Recovery: Greater Together

A local construction company recently made a generous donation to the YMCA of Northeastern Ontario to help them get through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dean Fielding and his son Alex donated $50,000 on behalf of Carman Construction to help the organization get through these unprecedented times.

When asked why they chose to make this significant contribution, Fielding said the Y is an essential institution in Northern Ontario, as it assists Northerners including those recovering from various health issues. Read more.Read more.

The local Sudbury brand is extremely excited to announce a special collection, the frontline hero collection; "ordinary People, doing extraordinary things". The brand has also decided that it will be donating a portion of the profits to the covid-19 support fund at Health Sciences North.⁣⁣

Learn more about the collection here.

The Lougheed Family Foundation donated $50,000 to the Health Sciences North COVID-19 Support Fund that will be used to purchase vital equipment needed for patient care on the front line during this unprecedented time.

In addition to supporting the hospital’s equipment needs, the Lougheed family wanted to thank and recognize the HSN heroes working tirelessly on the front line. On April 23, the Lougheeds offered staff free coffee and donuts from Tim Horton’s at the Ramsey Lake Health Centre.

The response from staff was overwhelmingly positive and they greatly appreciated the recognition. Read more.

A local pharmacy will be giving away seeds to eager gardeners after local gardening groups received a sizeable community donation.

Season’s Pharmacy and Culinaria, 815 Lorne St., has agreed to act as a depot for residents looking to work on their green thumbs.

Colleen Zilio, a spokesperson for Sudbury Shared Harvest and the Sudbury Community Garden Network, said local groups are shifting gears to encourage people of all ages and abilities to “cultivate their neighbourhood” by growing food any way they can — in their yard, on a balcony or even in a window box. Read more.

When businessman Vince Pollesel learned last month there was a dilemma locally about access to personal protective equipment before COVID-19 made its way to Canada, he knew he had to act.

“I’ve got some friends in the health care area,” said Pollesel, dealer principal at Crosstown Chevrolet Buick Cadillac GMC Ltd. in New Sudbury. “They didn’t have enough protective equipment to deal with the pending crisis. They were all concerned.

“I understood a number of them were going to secure personal protective equipment and pay for it. I was approached by a couple of them and asked if I could donate. I said ‘absolutely.’”

That donation ended up being $10,000 to the Health Sciences North Foundation in early April to go toward the purchase of personal protective equipment for local front-line health care workers. Read more.

Thanks to its partnership with a university in China, Laurentian University has donated 8,000 surgical masks to Health Sciences North amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This donation would not be possible without the timely aid of Laurentian’s institutional partners at Jiangxi University of Science and Technology (JXUST).

“The donation of these masks speaks to the engagement of our partners in ensuring the success of our joint program,” said Justin Lemieux, director of student recruitment at Laurentian University, in a press release. Read more.

A local Sudbury business has been working to balance their time in between normal production of handmade baby apparel with the new increased demand for their hand sewn face masks.

These beautiful handmade masks are for sale through their website and more information can be found on their Facebook page.

Sudbury Five Athletic Trainer Kim Brouzes has been keeping busy the last few weeks with their initiative "RV's for Health Care Workers", that is creating a home to keep them and their families feel safe and self-isolated during these times.

For more information on this great local initiative please visit their Facebook page.

A Sudbury mine-tech company is developing a new system to inventory and sanitize personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

FORTAI’s Sanitation SmartCube will be able to sanitize PPE, while also keeping an inventory of what PPE is being used.

The SmartCube has been in development for the last two years, but company president Trang Tran-Valade said that, given the ongoing pandemic, the company wanted to contribute tech that would help contain its spread.

“With the current situation and with the call for innovators to come together and collaborate and really put forth solutions that can help, we felt compelled to evolve our product towards this current application,” Tran-Valade said. Read more.

Over the last few weeks, the costs to keep the Sudbury Food Bank running have risen to keep up with an increased demand for food. More need has resulted in more frequent deliveries to local food banks.

Dan Xilon, executive director of the Sudbury Food Bank, said recently in an interview that one area food bank, which normally serves 20 people a day, is now serving about 50 people a day, or 220 people per week.

“We are pleased to be able to increase our support to Sudbury Food Bank during this challenging time,” said Rob Roeterink, Sudbury INO’s Strathcona Mill director, who also sits as member of the Food Bank board of directors. “As a long-time partner, we value the work that Sudbury Food Bank does. We witness the incredible community need that the dedicated team and volunteers work to provide for, year over year. Read more.