Edmonton hospitality industry helping Jasper colleagues through new website

Edmonton’s hospitality industry is rallying together to help their Jasper colleagues in need.

Through a new website, Edmontonians can make donations and help Jasperites find work.

Edmonton Business owners Kaelin Whittaker and Peter Keith joined CTV Morning Live’s Kent Morrison to explain how the website works. 

Kent Morrison: The hospitality industry here in Edmonton has rallied together to help their colleagues in Jasper, who are now out of work and may be facing an uncertain future while they wait to go back home. There's a new website, which is live to help people find work here and coordinate charitable donations. How does it work?

Kaelin Whittaker: You can go right onto the website and you can click donate. We also have a job board on there that's small. It's got some job postings and we're emailing information out.

Peter Keith: We said to our hospitality community, "We're not sure what's going to happen. We're not sure what initiatives will take place, but add your name to the list if you want to help." We have got almost 100 businesses on that list right now and we're starting to try to put them in touch, coordinate efforts with each other. It's this two-sided website for people who want to help and people who need some support.

Kent: People at home can go there and just make a donation and it goes through the Edmonton Community Foundation. Right?

Peter: They sprung into action, they got a fund set up overnight for us. It's called the Jasper Hospitality Fund. They will be flowing that money through to frontline agencies in the Rocky Mountains who can specifically provide support to hospitality workers in need.

Kent: There's the job posting on the website as well, where as, could be for a few hours over the weekend. Anything to get somebody a little revenue coming in, and they can apply their skills.

Peter: Absolutely. We're both employers, we know how sometimes you just need a little bit extra help. So what better time to try to get those temporary jobs, those immediate opportunities, to folks from Jasper.

Kent: Kaelin, this is an impressive thing that often comes out in Edmonton, you're all technically competitors. You're all owned businesses where you're trying to attract people to come in and eat, but you bond together so well. Now you're extending this arm to Jasper, how close are you all?

Kaelin: I think it's about collaboration and community. I think that's the foundation of what we're trying to achieve for Jasper. It has been a struggle for the food industry, but Jasper is now hit with this on top of that. So if we can do any little bit to help them, why wouldn't we?

Kent: Going through the pandemic was tough for everybody. Did that bond everybody closer together?

Peter: I think we all experienced similar challenges, but we all are also in this industry because we love what we do and we love hospitality. We love feeding people and caring for people. I think that really does bring us together towards these common causes and we also have a lot of fun working with our colleagues and staying connected and trying to put effort into a good thing.

Kent: You have connections to Jasper as well, right? It's not just an arm's length away, just like everybody at home, you have your own experiences, right?

Peter: I think most of us in Edmonton have some sort of strong connection to Jasper in a variety of ways. For me, over the last three years, I've probably done almost a dozen or more events there. You get to know these people. I have friends who've lost their businesses, lost their homes and that makes it very real and very urgent that we hear their stories and we know that they need some cash in hand as soon as possible.

Kent: Is there a part of the website that helps with charity events as well?

Kaelin: Yes and we're working on that. We've just sent out emails to everyone that's on the list that wants to help. We're hoping to have some events up on the website in the coming days. There are things that you can follow along on social media and that are listed on the website, with local businesses raising money for the fund.