Be Kind, Be Calm, and Stay Safe This Season of Giving
There are not many people that aren't waiting for the end of 2020 and most would consider it one of the most difficult periods of our generation. Notwithstanding the wars of the past, the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us and continues to challenge us in ways that would have been quite unimaginable, just one year ago.
Thompson Okanagan Winter. DBC Content Hub - Apex Mountain Resort Snowboarding, Sovereign Lake Nordic Adaptive Snowshoe, Sun Peaks Resort Family Fun, Big White Ski Resort Aerial.
On a daily basis, we are being asked to adhere to new and broadening restrictions, escalating numbers of infections and deaths, financial and work worries, and the growing anxiety that comes from continual uncertainty. Now, as we approach the holidays and Christmas period, when we normally anticipate time with family and friends, the reality is becoming ever clear that this will not be a time to gather together.
It is a time, however, where we need to work together more than ever and to show appreciation for the people with us. It is a time to ensure that they know that their individual commitments and sacrifices to help get us all through this year do not go unnoticed.
I would personally like to acknowledge the many people on the TOTA team who have done just that. Each of you has made enormous changes to their day to day work as we, like so many organizations, had to find new ways to continue to operate and support our industry. Learning new skills and adapting old ones, creating new programs, and finding new partners, none of this was what any of us planned for. The team has taken on roles as counselors providing an empathic ear; resource managers to find and direct supports to the industry as they were needed; grant writers to assist in the search for funding opportunities that can move projects forward into a new and better future; and advocates to government at all levels.
None of these were roles that any of the team anticipated having in January of 2020 and yet, as we close off the year, each one of them has re-equipped themselves to be able to do these initiatives, including the Tourism Resiliency Program, adapting as the year has required.
They have worked from home, from the office, and back to their homes, been on more video calls and committee meetings than seems possible, and managed to create and execute a 2-day virtual Summit and wine tasting with over 600 attendees.
To all of the many tourism business employees, managers, and owners that have made valiant efforts to endure 2020, I applaud and appreciate all of your hard work and sacrifice.
There will be better days to come, of that, there is no doubt, but for what we have been through and how you have all risen to the occasion, thank you for all of your hard work, dedication, and effort to move forward. It has not been easy and we are not through it yet but as someone said to me recently we are at least "at the beginning of the end" of the pandemic.
I encourage you to be kind, be calm, and stay safe as we enter into this season of giving, and to find ways big and small to thank those around you for the effort they are making, not just this year, but especially this year.
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