Yellow Pages believes in championing local Canadian small business success and growth. We take part in a series of activities that embody our long-term commitment to strong local economies and thriving neighbourhoods.
Supporting Small Businesses
Support for New Westminster
In October 2013, a historic and thriving neighbourhood in New Westminster, B.C. was devastated by a fire that destroyed 23 small businesses and forced an additional 25 businesses to temporarily close.
In order to help this community rebuild and get back to the bustling neighbourhood its once was, Yellow Pages collaborated with a local organization, Business to Business Network of Women (B2B NOW), to raise money for the Downtown New Westminster Fire Relief Fund.
To support this fund, YP produced 1000 collectable limited edition shopping bags which the passionate group of women entrepreneurs from B2B NOW sold through local businesses in New Westminster. The bags featured a vintage image of the neighbourhood that was hit by the fire, and were sold during British Columbia’s Buy Local Week as well as throughout the month of December.
Through the sale of the shopping bags as well as other donations the campaign raised a total of $6023.24 for the fire relief fund. In the end, an entire community came together to support the small businesses that are at the heart of their neighbourhood.
Taste Your Neighbourhood
At Yellow Pages, our mission has always been the same: to promote the success and growth of small businesses by helping them reach more customers. With this in mind, we created Taste Your Neighbourhood in Montreal in 2013 and offered guided walking tours that allowed residents to explore the local food businesses that form the heart of our communities.
Building on the success of the inaugural event in Montreal, the 2014 edition featured a Taste Your Neighbourhood event in Toronto. Each city will host 15 guided tours during which participants will be led through select neighbourhoods by knowledgeable guides to discover culinary gems.
Promenade Wellington’s Sugar Shack “Érablière Panache et bois rond”
Yellow Pages supports local promotion and development projects, which led to our partnership with the Société de développement commercial (SDC) Promenade Wellington, a dynamic group of merchants at the very heart of our borough.
In line with our commitment to contribute to our local economies, we supported the SDC Promenade Wellington as the official presenter of their biggest annual event; Érablière Panache et bois rond. The event is a fun urban sugar shack, which hosts dozens of local restaurateurs, producers and artisans who offered their own interpretation of a typical gourmet sugar shack menu.
Yellow Pages was there to capture the weekend’s playful moments with its photo booth, and offered event goers a photo opportunity with costumes, accessories and decors which captured their lumberjack spirit. The event was held over 2 days and welcomed 20,000 visitors, who got their photo taken, gave in to their sweet tooth and indulged in the weekend’s festivities.
Support for Southern Alberta and Lac-Mégantic
In line with our ongoing commitment as a company is to support the growth and prosperity of Canada’s small businesses and subsequently, contribute to healthy, thriving neighbourhoods, we contributed to the relief efforts following the flooding that took place this summer in Southern Alberta and the tragic events of Lac-Mégantic in Québec.
In support of relief efforts in Southern Alberta, we immediately donated $25,000 to the Canadian Red Cross and an additional $25,000 following the Lac-Mégantic events. We also refunded all pre-issued invoices for the month of July and cancelled all remaining invoices through to the end of 2013 for all clients in High River and Lac Mégantic directly affected by either tragedy but we’ll be maintaining their existing marketing campaigns and services for free until the end of the year.
Support for Fort McMurray
On May 3rd, massive wildfires triggered the largest fire-related evacuation in Alberta history with tens of thousands of people forced to leave their homes in more than 12 communities, including Fort McMurray.
Yellow Pages is supporting its fellow Canadians and colleagues in the Fort McMurray region, by donating $25,000 to the Canadian Red Cross Alberta Fires Appeal Fund. We’ve also set up an online portal for our 3,000 employees across Canada to be able to make their personal contributions
The catastrophic wildfire has destroyed over 1,600 homes and buildings in Fort McMurray and has now destroyed more than 10,000 hectares.
If you wish to show your support by making a donation, you can do so via the Canadian Red Cross, simply by clicking on the link and selecting the make a personal donation option.