COVID-19 Business Update; #gratitude

Dear Waterplayers,

Many of you have become accustomed to our annual April Fool’s press release, announcing the most absurd new products available on the market! We love coming up with the ideas and spreading the joy of laughter around the world, but this year we felt that it was more appropriate to update you on the situation, as it relates to our ongoing business operations, and to give thanks to many people working to help us all. Following is an update to our initial public message, which can be seen here.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold around the globe, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has lost a loved one to this relentless virus; to the frontline workers who are tirelessly working to save the lives of others; to those who are suffering financially; and to those that are struggling to cope with anxiety and fear of the uncertain. I am also profoundly sad for those that are losing out on milestone celebrations and rituals, such as high school graduations, weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, sporting finales and the like. Everyone is suffering and grieving the loss of something meaningful to them. No one is immune to this and we aren’t sure when or how it will end. We are truly a global community, connected through this experience.

Despite all the negativity surrounding us, I am so proud of the people I get to work with every day and the way they have responded to this crisis. They are genuinely doing all that they can do, to better the situation. Our teams have mobilized quickly to transition the way in which we work, and everyone in our organizations have maintained the true spirit of teamwork and dedication to exceptional customer service. I am also proud of the people in our organizations and communities who are working together by working apart. Locally we are seeing pockets of progress and a path emerging for communities not already in the thick of this outbreak. I am grateful for our courageous leaders who have been steadfast about using data and science to drive their decisions; our Chief Medical Officers have been outstanding and our government officials have allowed them to do their jobs. Thankfully, this has enabled many of us in British Columbia and Alberta to still be fully operational.

With modifications, we have been able to continue to work in a safe environment fulfilling orders every day. Yes, these modifications may be less than efficient and may cause delays, but the gratitude I have for everyone involved in keeping our part of the economy running is immense! Other sectors have been decimated and I do trust that our governments are doing everything that they can to help those businesses so gravely impacted. Now is not the time for the businesses that are operating to be greedy. We must do our part to stay operational and to continue to employ people, while maintaining long term viability. Prosperity can come later, viable is all we need right now! People that have rent, mortgages, bills to pay, and children to feed need to be working. So, if you can, please, hire someone today.

I am also grateful to our customers who continue to call, our vendors who continue to work in a manner that allows them to be safely operating, and all our other partners for still moving business forward. We are here to assist in any way we can with any of the resources we have internally or have access to externally. It will be at least another month here in North America, but I look forward to the day when the parks, playgrounds and spray parks re-open and are bustling with people. Until then, please continue to do your part by maintaining a physical distance, treating each other well, and staying safe.

Sincerely,

Jill White
President, Waterplay® Solutions Corp.