(kirbapeal/Facebook)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Medicine Hat man washes windows of salons to show support

Jan 17, 2021 | 9:31 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A local Medicine Hat man is doing what he can to support salons who were forced to close due to the restrictions.

Jason Wilks, owner of Kirbapeal has been going to salon after salon to clean the windows of the shutdown businesses.

Wilks said he was motivated to show some support because of his family ties to the salon and beauty industry

“I’ve got a sister in Didsbury that owns a hair salon, a mother in Calgary that owns a body sugaring studio, and they’ve been shutdown, and I’m thinking you know if I lived in the area I would want their places of business looking good for when their clients are coming back,” he said.

Like so many salons in the province, his family’s businesses has been hit hard, so Wilks wanted to show some support to those Salon owners in Medicine Hat who are in similar straits.

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“ We just wanted to bless these people. The salons have been shutdown for almost five months. Realistically they don’t have the discretionary funds to pay for it, and I though ‘ okay if my sister could benefit from this, this community could benefit from this,” he added.

Wilks posted videos of the initiative on facebook, and he said he was moved by the community’s support for small business and added that he hopes the community continues that support.

“Small business is the backbone of our community. We are the people that support your sports teams. We are the people that give to the United Way. We are the ones that you don’t even know how much we are giving to the community, and small business employs most people in Canada, and when small business hurts, communities hurt,”

Wilks has cleaned the windows of approximately 20 salons in the city .

One salon he helped clean was Cheerleaders Barber Lounge on Dunmore Road.

“I think it is great. I love how he is supporting the businesses here and helping us out,” owner Gina Lehr said.

The province gave salons the green light to reopen on Monday.