Two young Parksville entrepreneurs have only been in business for two years but they’ve already shown their generosity.
Friends Brett Wildeman and Jacob Stockton, who graduated from Ballenas Secondary last June, created J&B Everything At Your Services.
Wildeman said the idea came about from years of cleaning snow from driveways in the neighbourhood during winter months.
“I have been doing it since I was 13 and I thought, ‘let’s make something out of it,’” said Wildeman. “So two years ago we started the business and he we are now.”
The 18-year-olds offer a wide variety of services, including mowing lawns, painting, trimming hedges and trees, pickups, bottle runs and any other odd jobs you might want to get done.
“Pretty much anything we can do, we will do it,” said Wildeman.
So far business has been steady. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic., Wildeman said hey’re still able to land some work.
This Christmas, Wildeman said, they realized not everyone is going to have a happy celebration. They wanted to do something for a family in need and help make their season bright.
“We’ve always just been very fortunate as we always had a good Christmas with great people around us,” said Wildeman. “We’re just grateful. We thought ‘why not give back to a family in need?’, especially this Christmas. It’s been tough for everybody so we wanted to end the year on a high.”
The partners decided to donate a portion of their earnings to a good cause and were able to raise $550. They also sought donations from family, friends and also from generous employers and they were able to collect approximately $1,500 worth of items.
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“We received so much support and we appreciate the donations,” said Wildeman. “Our family, friends and the community are awesome.”
Wildeman said they planned to help just one family this year. To search for that family, they called some schools to help them find one in need.
“We were told about this family that was getting nothing and needed a lot of help,” said Wildeman. “They were number one on the list. So we helped them out. We actually dropped all the stuff to the mom on Sunday (Dec. 20). She was in shock and was very, very happy. We gave her all the money for a big Christmas dinner and the family and presents for everyone.”
Wildeman said this has inspired them to do more charitable things and starting next year, they plan to donate a bicycle to a child in need on his or her birthday.
“We just want to continue give back to community to show how much we appreciate the support they give us,” said Wildeman. “We plan to continue the business and make it grow. One day we might be able to hire more help.”
For information, call 250-927-7695.
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