Help Your Neighbourhood Barbershop Pay the Bills
****IMPORTANT UPDATE****
We are a couple hundred dollars away from reaching our original goal of covering our barbershops rent and bills for two months. We do not want an extra dime over that initial $4000. HOWEVER - Because of the fact this GoFundMe took literally 4 hours to get to this point and it is gaining some serious traction - WE HAVE DECIDED TO RAISE THE TARGET TO $10,000 AND EVERY DOLLAR EXTRA OVER OUR ORIGINAL $4000 GOAL WILL BE SPLIT TO OTHER ETOBICOKE/LAKESHORE BUSINESSES. We will not bite off more than we can chew. This isn’t about that. We are using this momentum and exposure to help our struggling neighbours.
THANK YOU!
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When Your Neighbourhood Barbershop opened in September of 2020, we considered the possibility of another potential lockdown. But not like this.
Working for 88 days and then being forced to close for (as of the time writing this) 180 days and counting, with no end date in sight was simply unimaginable.
The provincial and federal governments have created grants and loans to help small businesses... but due to the fact we opened in September - WE HAVE RECEIVED A GRAND TOTAL OF $0.00 IN ASSISTANCE and a gentle reminder from a certain staff member, "Well, you should have known better." We are unable to provide sales data dating back to April 2019 because it simply does not exist.
We never expected to get the maximum offered for the bail out grants and loans. We did not expect the Ford Government to fail so miserably at how they are dealing with the pandemic.
We did not expect our industry, which apparently is responsible for 0.001% of COVID transmission, to be disrespected and neglected in such a blatantly offensive manner. At this point, we feel like this is an attack. We are offended.
Before we tell you a little bit about what Your Neighbourhood Barbershop brings to the community of South Etobicoke Lakeshore, a brief simple explanation of our $4000.00 goal is to cover rent and bills up to August 1st. Plain and simple. As of now, we have spent what it cost us to renovate and open this shop in rent and bills for an empty shop we are not allowed to work out of for the last seven months. We cant do this anymore. The fact we are still here is an achievement of itself.
Here are some of the things we have been able to provide for our community in the less than 3 months we have been allowed to operate:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-barber-andy-dinner-shop-local-covid-1.5303181
https://www.blogto.com/fashion_style/2020/10/toronto-barber-shop-giving-discounts-people-supporting-other-local-businesses/
https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/11/16/these-entrepreneurs-saw-opportunity-in-the-pandemic-and-build-their-businesses.html
(CP24/CTV)
https://fb.watch/5D58NhXdGb/
https://fb.watch/5D5eRn6sH1/
https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/12/toronto-businesses-gave-back-communities/?fbclid=IwAR3r9up5SqXlPqycMlinLug1WRwxxn2qKK_En8VqzQpRiemwJn6OpvwYlhA
We have also won The LAMP Medal of Merit and Etobicoke GEM for Best New Business. And there is more to name but we will keep this as brief as we can.
We have made an impact. Plain and Simple. And now we are asking for your help.
We've waited as long as we possibly could before doing anything like this.
We like to give. We never expected to be asking to receive.
We are about to pay our seventh straight month of rent with no income.
Look at what we've done in 88 days.
If we can get 2 months of help imagine what kind of impact we can make once we're allowed to work again. That thought is what has kept us motivated to keep going.
Please. We need your help.
Shop Owner and Barber,
Andy Dinner.