TOWNLINE CONNECT
Volume 31 - Summer 2020

A Note From Rick

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to say in this message – as I’m sure we’re all contemplating what to say, do, and feel these days. Here, in this newsletter that represents the team I am so very proud of, all I can think about is the power of community, friendship, and support.

In the recent months, we have watched the medical community band together across the globe to fight for our health. Countries put aside their differences to seek solutions to nearly impossible questions. Governments support their small businesses. Neighbours support neighbours. Individuals and families hunker down for days and weeks on end in spaces small or large, lonely or crowded.

Here at Townline, I’ve watched our team adapt to new working environments and systems, bolster each other’s spirits, and perform their best work in difficult circumstances. We’ve united as a family, even as we remain socially distant. We’ve watched whole neighbourhoods – some of which we’ve helped to build – come together, banging pots and pans and cheering their support for frontline workers. We’ve seen the vulnerable people in our society receive tender care.

I suspect that in the wake of this pandemic, we will find a “new normal” that will impact our freedoms of travel and socialization, and very much alter how we conduct ourselves at work and at home. As big pharmaceutical companies race to create a vaccine, we will navigate public interactions differently, and accept that this newest “norm” is how we must move forward.

It’s been a time of uncertainty and grief, but my overriding sentiment is gratitude. I feel so fortunate to be part of this team, this community, and this caring world.

I want to say thank you to my team, for whom I have an ever-increasing respect. Thank you to our health care workers and essential service providers, for giving their all on the front lines of this epidemic. And thanks to each of you reading this message. We are all part of this amazing community – and there is nothing more important. 

Rick Ilich, President

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