As many if not most North Americans have spent March and April in their homes living under strict quarantine orders and waiting for the curve to flatten, a large number of business leaders have used their time and resources — both personal and professional — to address community, social and health and medical needs.

While personal and corporate philanthropy are generally pretty substantial during normal times, a worldwide crisis, for all the destruction it can cause, often motivates those in the corporate world to be even more generous than they would typically be.

In Vancouver, longtime serial entrepreneur Christopher Kape, who in 2001 founded JAMCO Capital, an early-stage private equity investment and advisory firm that has provided private equity and strategic advisory services to over 25 companies, is one such example. He’s a business leader who’s been hard at work during recent weeks attending to the needs of others in his community.

Kape has long been active as a philanthropist, providing support to a range of organizations, programs and initiatives, not only in Vancouver but around the world. When the coronavirus pandemic hit Canada, his first impulse was to jump in and see how he could be of help.

His role as a director at The Pie Hole, a Vancouver bakery, gave him the opportunity to join with company employees to provide pies to needy families in the Vancouver and Burnaby areas.

Then, as hand sanitizer became scarce, Kape, who also sits on the board of the luxury skin care products company Riversol Skin Care, worked with the company to arrange for donations of more than 15,000 containers of Riversol hand sanitizer to two community organizations in Canada, Canucks Place Children’s Hospice (CPCH) and the BC Cancer Agency. Riversol also began giving each online customer a free container of hand sanitizer with every full-size skin care order and has been offering $5 containers of hand sanitizer to anyone who needs it, with all proceeds funding the donation of additional hand sanitizer to local organizations.

These efforts were both needed and appreciated.

According to one administrator at CPCH, “Our clinical team was so excited and so were the families in hospice. Those little blue-and-white bottles brought a lot of joy — and relief — as many do not have access to this kind of item as it has been sold out.”

This is just one example of how companies are delivering much-needed help and kindness to those who need it most.

In Markham, Ontario, the dental supply company Dental Brands donated 100,000 face masks to the province — 10,000 of which were given to the police — as well as 4,600 bottles of hand sanitizer.

“I think that the more that we help each other, the more we’re going to beat this virus,” said Mike Lauterpacht, the company’s vice-president of operations. “I think that’s something we’re seeing, forget about what we did here. Wherever you are, (whether) it’s helping your neighbour or someone else checking on your parents, because you can’t.”

Companies of all sizes and their executive leadership have played vital roles in helping their neighbors cope with the pandemic.

How much money has been donated to date?

That’s difficult to estimate since it emanates from so many sources in so many places. From the biggest corporations to the smallest business, support has been both generous and continual. And people from all walks of life have been helping in every way.

“Individual acts of kindness are often characteristic in moments of crisis across all walks of life,” writes David Maurrasse, president and founder of consulting firm Marga Inc. and research scholar at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. “It is always important to recognize how people help each other in moments of need. We often think of the wealthy when discussing philanthropy. The truth is that all persons are capable of some form of philanthropy.”

He notes that in Macomb County, Michigan, a restaurant has been preparing free bagged lunches for children and families, and that one landlord in Portland, Maine, waived April rent for his tenants. These are but two examples of how business leaders at all levels are pitching in.

Published: 2020-05-18 13:21:33