Jasper Hospitality Fund
“The professionalism, knowledge and experience of everyone at ECF was incredible. We couldn’t have done it without them.”
– Mary Bailey, co-founder of the Jasper Hospitality Fund
When wildfires tore through Jasper in July 2024, Edmonton’s hospitality community mobilized. Led by Mary Bailey (The Tomato Food & Drink), Peter Keith (Muewly’s), Scott Downey (Butternut Tree) and Kaelin Whittaker (Awn Kitchen), YEG Hospitality for Jasper formed to support displaced hospitality workers — the bartenders, servers, and kitchen staff who make Jasper special.
Knowing they needed a trusted partner to turn their vision into action, the group partnered with ECF to establish the Jasper Hospitality Fund. Unlike an endowment, which is invested and grown over time, the Jasper Hospitality Fund is a flowthrough fund that can deliver fast, flexible support — providing $40,000 to help the hospitality sector recover.
We also rapidly activated the Northern Alberta Resiliency Fund to provide urgent support to other sectors in Jasper. Thanks in part to a $100,000 matching commitment from ECF, over $260,000 was raised from donors across the country.
We partnered with the Banff Canmore Foundation to ensure that decisions about how best to use the funds were made locally and supported social infrastructure needs that insurance wouldn’t cover. From community services to local recovery initiatives, this fund reflects our commitment to supporting communities not just immediately, but throughout the years it takes to truly rebuild.
