Mouldings and More has been in West Kelowna for the last 13 years, producing display cases and picture frames.
But as the COVID-19 pandemic hit close to home, a client asked for a favour that turned into a project to give back to the community.
Tracy Spooner, a sales representative for the company, said the client asked if they could make a barrier that will protect his wife, who works at a bank.
“As a favour to the customer, we basically came up with the very first barrier. So it stands on the counter and it’s an acrylic-fronted display unit that had a hole cut out to allow for the passing of the debit machine back and forth,” she said.
“But it created a barrier for when someone sneezed or coughed or anything like that.”
She added that as soon as the barrier was installed, it snowballed from there. Now, Mouldings and More’s staff are working to produce plexiglass barriers for various businesses that may need them, including grocery stores, gas stations, law offices, banks, and other places where a frontline worker may have to face the public.
She said they’re all dedicated to producing the barriers because they all have personal connections to frontline workers. Spooner’s own daughter is a grocery store clerk and is considered an essential worker. At the same time, she said they’re also safety-conscious and want to play their part in slowing down COVID-19.
Besides helping to protect frontline workers, Spooner said they also wanted to give back to the community by donating 20 per cent of the net profits to local food banks.
She said that currently, they have managed to raise approximately $2,500, with Lakeview Market in Kelowna looking to donate an additional $500.
“We made the promise right off the bat that anything we did in this nature, that we would be donating back to the community where the businesses were. So if you’re in Penticton and you hired us, the Penticton is going to receive the donation, and so on.”
“We’re very blessed in that a lot of places have asked us to install the barrier in different areas. So we’ve gone as far as Kamloops, Cranbrook, Vernon, and Penticton.”
Spooner said they take instructions and measurements over the phone and over text, to keep person-to-person contact at a minimum.
“Basically, we need to know the counter space, the height they need, and where the hole needs to be,” she said.
The barriers come with a cleaning kit and care instructions. Spooner said they also provide floor decals that indicate where clients should stand when at the till or register.
If you know others who are giving back and helping those in need during this critical time, send us an email and let us know!
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