21/08/2026
Over the past two weeks, our community has been through something none of us could have imagined. We want to speak directly about a few things.
First — a moment we got wrong. During the evacuations, a customer came in whose debit card was declined, and in that moment, we didn't take care of them the way we should have. We're sorry. We're grateful to the customer in line who stepped in and covered their order — that's the kind of community we're lucky to be part of, and it's the standard we hold ourselves to.
We already work with the Emergency Support Services (ESS) program to support evacuees, and that partnership matters to us — but this moment didn't come through that formal process. It was someone standing at our counter, having the kind of day none of us would wish on anyone, and our team member didn't feel equipped in that moment to make the call to help her the way our values ask us to. That's on us, not on the person serving her. We can't put a policy in place that identifies who is or isn't going through something hard — life doesn't work that way, and we wouldn't want it to. What we can do, and are doing, is make sure every person on our team knows they're trusted to lead with care in moments like this, whatever channel it comes through.
Since August 7, we've also donated $2000 to the Red Cross BC Wildfire Relief which grew to $4000 by the gracious actions of an anonymous donor, provided complimentary food and beverages to first responders and evacuees and donated food to emergency services. This wasn't a campaign — it's just what felt right to do, and we'll keep doing it.
We also want to clear something up: we're not asking for government money for Bliss, and we wouldn't qualify for small business disaster relief even if we wanted to. The only reason we're part of this conversation is that employees can't access Employment Insurance for reduced hours unless their employer sets up a Work-Sharing agreement — it's money employees and employers already pay into, sitting inaccessible without an official disaster declaration. That's what we've been asking to see unlocked and the program we are asking to have access to.
Peachland and Summerland are home. We haven't lost what so many others have these past two weeks, but the ripple effects are real, and we want to help however we can. We're not going anywhere, and we're grateful every day for a community that shows up for each other the way this one has.
— Darci, Barry and the Bliss Bakery team