Our ABOUT US page is actually about YOU!
While we celebrate our 30th anniversary in 2021, I was reflecting on our ‘ABOUT US’ page and wanted to take it on different direction than you might find on a traditional page.
2020 was our 29th year… and should’ve been like so many before it. We don’t need to recap it here; but as you know 2020 wasn’t like anything we had seen before but not just because of the pandemic.
I have always had a deep passion for my job, a real appreciation for what I do everyday, but 2020 renewed that passion and took it to an unimaginable level!
Last year in 2020, special events, holidays & most family gatherings were cancelled, postponed and/or reduced greatly in size. Businesses were forced to either close or pivot or both; brides were inconsolable over their cancelled weddings, family & friends with milestone events and special trips planned were devastated and everyone had to made alternate plans.
In the beginning, I didn’t know what to expect, what was going to happen, who was able to come to work, how would it all come together and couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to send out gift baskets and boxes during these uncertain, unprecedented, horribly sad and bizarre times.
But the one constant through it all, was your desire to continue to send gifts and to connect with each other; and gifting became a vital outlet for your love, support, strength and encouragement to each other.
Many many days, I was moved to tears as mothers from across the country and the world tried to console the broken hearts of their baby girls on what would’ve been their wedding day, business owners sending notes of gratitude to their regular client base for their ongoing support during work shortages and great delays, corporations sending gifts of gratitude to their employees while they made working from home the new norm and the kind and encouraging messages you sent to each other promising to make next years ’51st birthday so spectacular that it will make all 50th birthday celebrations dim in comparison’ were life changing to me.
Through the monumental amounts of gifts you ordered from us; we were gratefully able to keep our doors open, employ staff full time through it all and continue to buy from existing and new suppliers both locally and across the country. We discovered so many new small businesses that were creating yummy new items all year long and were thrilled to support them and see their dreams develop as well in the middle of the pandemic.
On more than one occasion during the year, it was confided in me by a vendor that our order ‘helped to pay the overhead this month’, that because of our gourmet food order with a certain supplier, a young single mom was given hours that week that the business couldn’t afford prior allowing her to pay her rent fully that month, and that our regular monthly orders allowed one company to stay open as they were getting closer and closer to closing their doors. This information and sharded stories made me push harder, do more and expect more from ourselves. And you, our regular & new clients alike, were right there by our side.
YOU DID THAT… your gift orders did that. Your desire to buy local and support small businesses all mattered and it still matters.
During the holidays, many many of our corporate clients made a point of asking us to source local suppliers. It was not uncommon to hear ‘gifts with local items only, please’, can you design our gifts only ‘with items from all the 3 regions in BC where our offices are located’, or can we include ‘BC bubbly in that please’ instead of French Champagne.
I was honored and humbled to witness your kindness and generosity with each other first hand. I will forever be grateful for my front row view of your true nature on display daily.
YOU got me through 2020 and that’s why our ‘About Us’ page is just one more aspect about my company, Vancouver Gift Baskets that is actually all about YOU!!
Humbly gratefully yours,
Carole
