While many hotels had to temporarily close their doors, numerous properties that were able to stay open opted to pay it forward by welcoming essential workers as guests, giving them a safe place to rest as well as providing a refuge for self-isolation so as to not place their own families at risk by going home. The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Halifax – Dartmouth offered reduced rates to all essential workers, and those in the trucking industry who were tirelessly transporting medical supplies and food were given the opportunity to use the guestrooms to refresh before getting back out on the road. The Fairmont Royal York in Toronto partnered with the city’s three largest health care networks—St. Michael’s, Mount Sinai and University Health Network—for their Rest Safe program, making 500 rooms available each night to provide a safe home away from home for frontline health care workers. In Vancouver, the medical staff at St. Paul’s Hospital were welcomed across the street at the Burrard Hotel, either for overnight stays or for a shower or a nap, and in Burnaby, BC, employees of Fraser Health Authority who needed to rest or self-quarantine were able to stay up to 14 nights for free at Element Vancouver Metrotown. British Columbia hotel chain, Accent Inns, offered reduced rates for essential workers, including health care professionals and grocery store employees, at their properties in Victoria, Burnaby, Kamloops and Kelowna. When word of this initiative spread, the community stepped in to cover the entire cost of their stays, and as demand for accommodation increased, Accent Inns partnered with the United Way of Greater Victoria to establish the Hotels for Frontline Workers Fund, so they could continue to welcome them at their hotels for low or no cost. As quarantine measures were instated and many businesses were forced to close, leaving thousands unemployed, the industry stepped in to help food banks across the country that were overwhelmed with community members facing food insecurity. The team at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre came together to donate perishable food items—about 1,500 meals—from events that were either cancelled or postponed to their local charity partners, including Margaret’s Housing and Community Support Services, Good Shepherd and The Scott Mission. As commercial flights were suspended during the pandemic, airlines donated their surplus food items. Sunwing partnered with Canada’s largest food rescue organization, Second Harvest—who recover nutritious, unsold food and redistribute it to various social service organizations—donating more than 46,000 meals to 17 communities across the country. Also working with Second Harvest, Air Canada and the Air Canada Foundation donated 14,118 kg of food items, the equivalent of almost 31,000 meals. To support Quebec’s food banks, Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth in Montreal and Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City opened up their kitchens in support of Les Cuisines Solidaires, an initiative by La Tablée des Chefs to prepare over 1,600,000 meals to feed those in need. La Tablée des Chefs is a community of culinary professionals that work to COMMUNITIES Nourishing FROM HOME Home Away Fuel the Superheroes lunches for frontline workers 24 | Ignitemag.ca | July 2020
