Recognizing Kind-Hearted Canadians
We’re a brand that believes kind hearts are strong hearts. And strong hearts do more good. So, we’re recognizing Canadians who are doing good at a time when the world needs them most by donating $1,000 a day to a different community-focused initiative across the country, and celebrating each recipient on our social channels. We started this effort on April 20 and it will continue through the month of May.
Below are some of the kind-hearted Canadians we’ve recognized so far.
We hope you’re inspired by the good deeds of others as much as we are. It’s the little things we can do for others that make a world of difference.
Kelli Hanson
Kelli Hanson is a teacher in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, who launched and maintained her school’s lunch program. When schools closed due to the pandemic, Kelli made sure that the lunch program continued so students would still have access to healthy meals. Working with a small team of volunteers, she preps, cooks and packs lunches for 75-100 students a day, five days a week. Kelli and her team prove that with a kind-heart and a good intention, amazing things can happen.
Army of Masks
Army of Masks is a volunteer movement that began when four friends in Montreal, Quebec got together to sew and donate masks to those in need. It has since grown to include 129 volunteers that have produced more than 9,000 masks which have been donated to law enforcement personnel, senior care home staff and hospice groups.
To support this kind-hearted mission, we’ve donated $1000-worth of masks, handcrafted by another incredible grassroots initiative: Tavisha’s Helping Hands. Started by a 14-year-old Tavisha from British Columbia, this organization will donate all proceeds from selling masks to relief funds for hospital workers. We thank both Tavisha and Army of Masks for continuing to provide assistance to those who need it most.
Julie Seaborn
Julie Seaborn, an avid crafter from Corner Brook, Newfoundland, is crocheting special holders that allow for face masks to attach to buttons, rather than ears, for frontline workers across the province. What started as a small project for her close friends in healthcare quickly gained traction and to date, Julie has made and donated nearly 400 mask holders to essential workers. Thank you, Julie, for sharing your kind heart with us and your fellow Newfoundlanders, one stitch at a time.
Dean Renwick
When COVID-19 put his Regina, Saskatchewan-based tailoring business on hold, Dean Renwick shifted production to focus on creating masks for seniors. Together, Dean and his family have distributed more than 4,335 free hand-stitched masks to seniors across Saskatchewan. We thank Dean and his kind-hearted family for this massive effort to help keep the virus at bay by providing personal protection for so many.
Neigbourhood Window Walk
To lift community spirits, people in the town of LaPerla, Alberta have come together to create a treasure trove of art that’s displayed throughout shop windows in town. The Neighbourhood Window Walk creates new pieces every week based on a daily theme, such as hearts or superheroes, that are paired with a children’s story shared on the project’s Facebook page. Thank you to the townspeople of LaPerla for putting a smile on neighbours’ faces and for encouraging creativity and kind-heartedness in your community.
Erin Michell
Erin Michell from Regina, Saskatchewan has always had a penchant for sewing, lending her skills to the four-legged clientele of a local dog grooming company, providing pups with shower caps and aprons. But upon hearing that healthcare workers across Saskatchewan were experiencing chapped ears from their personal protective equipment, she shifted production in her one-woman shop to produce headbands that allow for face masks to hook onto buttons, rather than the ears. The headbands have been a huge hit, proving that even simple gestures can make a big difference. We celebrate Erin’s efforts and innovative thinking!
Thuy Ha
Thuy Ha is a Northwest Territories-based seamstress.
After having to shut down her Yellowknife-based shop, Thuy Ha continued to work tirelessly, sewing face masks for people in her community. To get the word out about her new service, she posted on her Facebook page and received dozens of requests to buy the masks, but insisted on giving them away for free because from Thuy’s perspective, she has the time and materials, so why not help people in need? It warms our hearts to hear of Thuy’s generosity and we thank her for her incredible kindness.
Jacky Eats MTL
When the pandemic hit, the friends behind Jacky Eats MTL, a restaurant review blog in Montreal, Quebec, knew what they had to do - shift their focus to help frontline workers. They created Feed the Heroes MTL, a crowdfunding page that helps raise funds to buy food from local eateries to support healthcare heroes. Since the beginning of April, Jacky Eats MTL has helped raise over $15,000 and feed more than 1,000 healthcare workers, including those at Montreal General Hospital’s ER unit and St. Mary’s General ICU team. We thank Feed the Heroes MTL for all their hard work and warm hearts.
Little India Restaurant
Little India is an independent restaurant located in Toronto, Ontario and run by Sri Selvarasa.
Wanting to help their community, the owners of Little India began offering free meals to those in need in late March. As a result of their generosity, the restaurant has received an outpouring of support from people looking to sponsor meals, helping this small business stay afloat. We’re recognizing this little restaurant’s big-hearted initiative and thank them for giving to those who need it most.
Adopt a Grandparent
Adopt A Grandparent was started by local Airdrie, Alberta resident, Nicole Kelly.
Nicole launched an initiative to put smiles on the faces of seniors in Airdrie’s Luxstone Manor, a retirement facility where residents have been isolated since the pandemic began. Reaching out to her local community via Facebook, Nicole encourages others to donate items for care packages - filled with anything that can be individually sanitized like cards, drawings and crafts - which she delivers to seniors living in isolation. Thank you, Nicole, for sharing your kind heart with those who need it most.
Trisha Bower
As the owner of Eat My Shortbread, a bakery in Oshawa, Ontario, Trisha Bower understands the power of a baked good. When the pandemic began, Trisha decided to use her delicious cookies to show support for essential workers and began sending boxes of them to frontline workers nominated by the local community. Thank you, Trisha - we celebrate your kind heart and your freshly baked shortbreads.
The Fig and David Scarlatescu
After hearing that a local elderly man couldn’t afford food due to COVID-19-related financial hardships, David Scarlatescu felt compelled to help. But his kindness didn’t stop with just one man. Since March, David’s Vernon, B.C.-based restaurant, The Fig, has served more than 300 free meals and counting to those in need. Thank you, David!
Comal Y Canela Community Food Bank
Yasmen de Leon, owner of Toronto, Ontario restaurant, Comal Y Canela, recognized the need to help people who were financially at risk due to the pandemic. So every Wednesday she transforms her tiny restaurant into a community foodbank, handing out free bags of groceries to the city's hardest-hit families. Yasmen’s kind-heartedness has helped more than 100 families and we recognize and celebrate her tremendous efforts.
Becca Courtice
Becca Courtice, owner of the calligraphy shop, Happy Ever Crafter, has safely taken her skills to the streets by writing beautiful messages of positivity with chalk on the sidewalks and windows of her home in Ottawa's New Edinburgh neighbourhood. Thank you, Becca, for sharing your special gift to create kind-hearted reminders that we are all in this together.
Ultimate Protection Kits for Seniors
Recognizing the need for personal protective equipment in their Oakville community, Laura Shi and Eve Lim are making free protection kits that they’re delivering to their town’s most vulnerable elderly members. Each kit contains handmade masks, a face shield, 4-6 disposable masks, and hand sanitizer. So far, these two women have given away 93 free kits to residents in Ontario and are seeking donations to continue their efforts. We’re proud to support this grassroots initiative and thank Laura and Eve for their kind hearts.
H.O.P.E Outreach
H.O.P.E. Outreach is a non-profit that provides housing and other necessities to homeless women in Kelowna and Vernon, British Columbia. Due to COVID-19, they have had to stop their regular outreach program and pivot to ensure the community’s most vulnerable women continue to receive emergency bags filled with non-perishable food, feminine hygiene products and other essential items. We’re proud to support this kind-hearted charitable effort and thank H.O.P.E. for their important work.
Rose-Ann Normandeau
After tragically losing her mother to COVID-19, Rose-Ann Normandeau, an Alberta resident, is honouring her mother’s memory by making and donating free masks in her name. Using available materials from her window covering business, Rose-Ann has donated nearly 500 masks to community members throughout her hometown of Calgary. Rose-Ann, your kind-hearted act is an inspiration to us all.
FrontLineFeeds
FrontLineFeeds was started by a group of medical students in the Ottawa and Gatineau region of Ontario. The group provides meals from local restaurants to healthcare workers in their community to show gratitude for their future colleagues who are risking their own health to save the lives of others. In the last two months, they have raised more than $10,000 and donated 500 meals. We thank FrontLineFeeds for their kind-hearted efforts.
Joy4all Project
Developed by Calgary high school students, the Joy4All hotline is a project designed to bring positive messages to seniors in isolation. Each day, jokes, poems and other pre-recorded messages of joy are sent into the hotline for local seniors to call in and receive. The teens have recently turned to the larger community to help create new content each day. We all could use some extra smiles and this incredibly heartfelt project delivers. On behalf of all Canadians we say, “Thanks for calling!”
Sikh Community of Montreal
The Sikh Community of Montreal has generously stepped up to the plate to help support frontline workers. On April 20th, the group made their first donation of 2,400 snacks to the Montreal General Hospital and are planning deliveries to the CHUM and Jewish General Hospital in the coming days. We are grateful to the members of this group for their kind-hearted work to keep their community safe.
Quinn Callander
Quinn Callander is a 12-year-old scout living in Maple Ridge, BC who proves that no matter what stage of life, you can always lend a hand and make a difference in a time of need.
After seeing a nurse’s Facebook post about ear pain caused by continuously wearing face masks, Quinn and his father began 3D printing ear guards and donating them to frontline healthcare workers. To date, they’ve made more than 1,000 guards, and continue to produce more each day. It takes someone with a kind heart to achieve such an amazing feat and stay determined to keep going.
Mercimeals Mtl
A group of third-year medical students from McGill University had their clinical rotations canceled due to the pandemic and instead of taking a much-needed relaxing break, they decided to mobilize and continue to help their community in other ways.
They rallied together to fundraise, supporting local restaurants and feeding healthcare workers and hospital support staff. So far their collective, called MerciMeals MTL, has raised over $30,000 to feed staff at nine different hospitals and help 20 local restaurants continue to employ staff to cook and deliver the meals. We’re so thankful this group of future doctors are continuing to spread their kindness to help their community.
Yegna Ethiopian Restaurant
Homeless populations and those who rely on food banks to survive have struggled with food security throughout COVID-19. With that in mind, the generous individuals at Yegna Ethiopian Restaurant, owned by Selam Gutema, stepped in to help their local Calgary community. Since March 23, this small, family-owned restaurant has donated more than 150 meals to families in need. They’ve also committed to offer free meals to those who can’t afford them for as long as their business remains open. It’s local heroes like these who embody the kind-heartedness of Canadians and we thank them for all the good that they’re doing.
Rachelle Leblanc
After noticing that smaller essential retail shops didn’t have the funding for protective screens, this Toronto-based designer decided to help her neighbouring stores.
Rachelle Leblanc put her Parkdale gallery’s business on hold and turned her studio into an assembly line where she designs and builds free protective countertop shields for local businesses which are deemed essential services. LeBlanc now spends most of her time trying to meet the demand, assembling the parts into finished shields, and delivering them with the help of her studio partners, friends and contacts. This is community spirit at its best and we thank Rachelle for her kind heart and all that she’s doing to keep frontline workers safe.
NL Eats
Mehnaz Tabassum and her family are self-confessed food lovers. Some years ago, they started the Facebook page NL Eats – an online community for St. John’s, Newfoundland residents to share restaurant reviews and recommendations. Once COVID-19 hit and most local restaurants had to shut down, they found another need for their growing online group – a volunteer-driven food bank that delivers food to those in need. They rebranded their page Project #FoodForThoughtNL and continue to provide contactless food deliveries to seniors, the immunocompromised, new Canadians and single parents. We salute this kind-hearted family - thank you for keeping your community well-fed and safe.
Railway North
From hip, new BBQ restaurant to gourmet soup kitchen, Railway North Social House transformed itself overnight to feed residents of Swift Current, Saskatchewan. After opening its doors in November of last year, owner Mike Bailey and his team were forced to stop business as usual a short five months later due to COVID-19. What started as an effort to share perishable items, soon become a mission to make meals for anyone struggling with food insecurity in the community. Humbled by how many residents came forward, they’ve kept up their kind-hearted efforts and, with the help of many other residents, they continue to make soup, sandwiches, and fresh produce baskets, delivering them to anyone in need. We thank the good folks at Railway North Social House for keeping their community nourished in body and soul.
Building Up
Those who struggle with maintaining steady employment need support more than ever. Building Up is a non-profit construction contractor and training program providing long-term career pathways for people experiencing barriers to employment. A kind-hearted organization at its core, they’re now going the extra mile with a fundraising campaign to support their trainees and graduates who have lost their jobs as a result of the current crisis. All donations raised go directly to the trainees, helping them maintain a living wage to support themselves and their families. Join us in raising awareness for this organization’s efforts to keep the Toronto community strong.
Restaurant Patates Plus
A local restaurant in Val-Belair, Quebec is providing comfort to elderly residents via their delicious comfort food.
When the volunteers of Popote et Multi-Services (Quebec’s version of Meals on Wheels) had to start self-isolating due to their age and increased risk, Restaurant Patates Plus heard about it and stepped in to ensure that these vital meals continued to be delivered to seniors in need. The restaurant safely prepares hot meals like vegetable soup, meat pie, and spaghetti. Their aim is to serve 25 people a day with enough meals to last for two days. Bringing joy and a sense of stability and comfort through food to people in their time of need is an incredibly kind-hearted action and we thank the team at Restaurant Patates Plus for all the good they continue to do.
Jason Rochon
Jason Rochon is a grade-school student support worker in Iqaluit.
With the closure of the school where Jason Rochon had been managing a breakfast program and food bank for students, Jason and other school staff quickly mobilized to pack food bags for delivery to help ensure that children still had access to healthy food. The first day they delivered to 180 kids and have now grown to over 400 in a single day, helping to serve from two site locations. Jason’s tireless efforts have brought so much to his community and we thank him from the bottom of our hearts for his kind-hearted actions.
Michael Scissons
Whether at home or abroad, this media-dubbed “mask crusader” is on a mission to keep frontline workers safe. Michael Scissons, a Saskatoon-born venture capitalist currently living in NYC, heard about the shortages of N95 masks for healthcare workers and quickly mobilized to find a stockpile, delivering them directly to New York University Hospital staff. After learning of a similar shortage in his hometown, he began sourcing supplies for hospital workers there and to date has sent 3,000 masks to those in need. A man with resources and a kind heart, we salute you Michael!
Generations Diner
Recognizing that truck drivers are facing increasing hardships while traveling, the team at Windsor-based Generations Diner took their restaurant on the road. In doing so, they created not only a mobile diner that serves soul food but also a beacon of light for drivers on long hauls. Addressing the needs of the men and women who continue to transport our food, medical supplies and other essential items is one kind-hearted act that we’re proud to celebrate. Join us in thanking Generations Diner for their thoughtful act of good.
Sackville Food Bank, NB
Sackville Food Bank has seen an increase in food donations but with that, a marked decline in the number of people using their service. Worried that people were becoming fearful of going outside or unable to do so due to self-isolation, the organization started delivering their food boxes to anyone in need with the assistance of volunteers from the local Rotary club.
Since sharing this new way of working on their Facebook page, their phones have been ringing off the hook with delivery requests, showing what a great need there is in the community for their kindness and generosity.Thank you to the team at Sackville Food Bank for realizing the need to shift your operations and helping the most vulnerable members of your town.
Big Bike Giveaway
Big Bike Giveaway is a London-based husband and wife duo who collect, repair and donate free bikes for people in the community.
They’ve always helped those in need gain access to bicycles, to promote healthier lifestyles and self-sufficiency, but since the pandemic they’ve stepped up their game by teaming up with Squeaky Wheel Bike Co-op. Together, these two organizations donate free bicycles to low-income essential service workers in the community, providing them with invaluable access to safe transportation. Thank you, Big Bike Giveaway for taking care of our most vulnerable citizens in their time of need. We’d ride with you any day!
Feed the Frontlines TO
Due to COVID-19, restaurants across Canada have been forced to close, laying off serving staff and losing business for the foreseeable future. But one Toronto resident thought of a way to help: along with some friends, Adair Roberts created Feed the Frontlines TO, an initiative designed to keep local restaurant staff employed while providing nourishing meals to health and social service workers on the frontlines. We encourage Canadians to join us in celebrating this kind-hearted cause and thank the good people at Feed the Frontlines TO for the generous work they’re doing. Learn more about them here.
Food4Kids Halton
With school closures in place for the next few months, hundreds of children who previously relied on school lunch programs are at risk of going hungry. Food4Kids Halton, a non-profit organization that ensures at-risk children within Hamilton and Halton regions have lunch seven days a week, has shifted its process to now provide grocery store gift cards to families in need. Their quickly executed pivot aims to ensure that even during a global pandemic, no child in Halton goes hungry. Please join us in celebrating this important initiative.
Winnipeg Harvest
COVID-19 has caused an incredible strain on Canada’s food supply. Winnipeg Harvest, a non-profit distributor of food to Manitobans across more than 300 food banks, is desperately trying to keep up with community needs as school programs have disbanded, leaving hundreds of children hungry. As a result, they’ve ramped up their fundraising efforts to focus specifically on feeding children, at-risk families and individuals. We thank Winnipeg Harvest for working tirelessly to support their community.
*No submission required. Selection of Individuals and/or organizations based on internet research and made at Upfield’s discretion. While only some of the many kind-hearted actions can be selected, we applaud all those who are doing something wonderful for someone else. The daily donations can be expected through May. We reserve the right to modify, suspend or terminate the program at any time.
Amounts are being provided as gifts and not in exchange for any services. Recipients should consult with their tax advisor. Upfield Canada Inc. has permission to use all names and likeness, and photographs, images, included on this page.