Food bank executive director Celina Symmonds accepts a donation of masks from Weddingstar CEO Rick Brink.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@mocranker
The folks at Weddingstar are doing what they can to help during the pandemic.
The businesses is making its way to different organizations around the city to make large mask donations, totalling more than 4,000 given away.
“With the mask mandate here we wanted to use our large stock of masks to give back a bit,” said CEO and owner Rick Brink. “We decided to donate masks to organizations that work with vulnerable members of our community who may need some help.
“I know it is a small piece of help, but it’s important that everyone has access to a mask so they can use services and get to where they need to be.”
The organizations receiving masks are the food bank, Santa Claus Fund, Mustard Seed, Salvation Army, Medicine Hat Cares, Ronald McDonald House, SPCA, APARC, the Link Church and Saamis Immigration Services.
Being a wedding-based business, Weddingstar took a big hit when the pandemic first arrived. The business quickly shifted focus from wedding supplies to masks to keep it going through the year.
“We were one of the first to really get into the market,” said Brink. “The mask sales have really kept us going through this.”
On top of donating masks to the city’s vulnerable population, Weddingstar wants some to be given out to volunteers who work on the front lines.
“We want to try to keep everyone safe,” said Brink. “We know there’s so much debate going on about masks right now, but the fact is, there is a mandate and there shouldn’t be anyone without a mask when they need one.
“This is something small we thought of to help people out during these tough times.”
