Chamber News

Local small business Trent Valley Distributors gets $10K grant from Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Salesforce

Belleville Chamber of Commerce CEO Jill Raycroft and Trent Valley Distributors owner Chris Auger celebrate the announcement he was selected for the grant of $10,000.

(Belleville, ON) – June 29, 2020 – The Canadian Chamber of Commerce announced 62 $10,000 grant recipients from its Canadian Business Resilience Network Small Business Relief Fund today, including Trent Valley Distributors, celebrating their 40^th anniversary this year.  As a restaurant/kitchen supplies distributor, their business has had to shift during the pandemic and while cleaning supplies have always been part of their product line, they’ve also become experts in sanitization.

“We are thrilled to have been selected as a recipient for the CCC grant. Trent Valley Distributors has been a member of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce for 30 years and take great pride in our partnership. This grant will allow us to further develop our sanitation division and provide us with the funding needed to expand our line and give back to the community. Thank you to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and especially Jill Raycroft and Lisa Grills from our local chamber for supporting small businesses like Trent Valley during these unprecedented times. The past few months have been very difficult for so many people and we can’t wait to put this money to great use” says Chris Auger, owner of Trent Valley Distributors.  Chris purchased the business last year.

“When the program was announced, we were grateful to see this was meant to support those businesses who had invested in membership with their local chamber and we had a lot of phone calls about it.  We weren’t sure any of our members would be selected but Trent Valley’s intentions to support other organizations means this is a win for so many in our community.  I’m sure it’s why they were chosen and once again, a local business has put Belleville on the map in a national conversation.” says Jill Raycroft, CEO of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce.

More than 1100 small businesses across Canada applied for the 62 grants available. The lucky recipients were those that best demonstrated their financial strain, how the business will use the grant to change or innovate, how the change or innovation will sustain the business’s recovery and allow it to prosper, and how the grant will support the role each business plays in their community.

The fund was managed by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and made possible through the generosity of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM). The funding was designed to help small businesses across the country stay afloat and support their recovery efforts, paying salaries, retrofitting their workplaces and acquiring technology to adapt their business model. Salesforce has also provided grants to small businesses in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, in addition to providing other resources.

“Reviewing the applications was both heartbreaking and inspiring, We saw how seriously small businesses across Canada have been hurt by the pandemic, but we also saw how determined these entrepreneurs are to preserve their employees’ jobs and to serve their customers and their communities. Today is a happy waypoint, not an end point, and we won’t stop finding new ways to help Canada’s businesses reopen and recover. We’ll be with them every step of the way,” said Perrin Beatty, President and CEO, Canadian Chamber.

“It has been incredible to see the resilience coming from Canada’s small business owners over the last few months. We know it hasn’t been easy,” said Margaret Stuart, Canada Country Manager, Salesforce. “The applicants have further demonstrated what we at Salesforce already knew to be true - that Canada is rich with innovation and entrepreneurial talent. We’re hopeful that these grants will provide essential support to small business owners as they return to work.”

A complete list of the winners can be found here.

The Belleville Chamber of Commerce has been supporting the business community since 1864.  Their purpose is to help their members prosper by connecting, representing and sharing.  The Chamber supports their members by connecting them to the community and each other, representing at all levels of government and sharing their stories, knowledge and experience.

-30-

For more information, please contact:

Jill Raycroft                                                                Phil Taylor                  

Belleville Chamber of Commerce                         Canadian Chamber of Commerce

jill@bellevillechamber.ca                                         ptaylor@chamber.ca 

613-962-4597, ext 4