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Dear Members,

As we continue dealing with the myriad of challenges that COVID-19 has thrown our way, the Board and management have now fully turned our attention to looking at ways in which we can directly support our members. We are starting to implement a number of initiatives that deal with sharing of information and providing technical support.

Specifically, here is what we are currently working on:

Member Survey

The first step in providing member assistance is knowing what you need, so we will be sending out a member survey shortly after this communication. Please, everyone, take a few minutes to fill it in. This is your way of telling us what you want – if we don’t know, we can’t provide it. The survey asks some specific questions about the impact of COVID-19 on your business and livelihood as well as questions that will help us determine what your needs are with regards to shifting your business model. It also has room for comments, so please make use of that to tell us more about your current situation, ideas you might have, requests or specific needs.

More Sharing of Information

One of the positive outcomes that we’ve seen from the pandemic is how it has helped to build a sense of community within the country, amongst neighbours and professional sectors. Circle Craft is very much a community but we have rarely interacted as a whole, largely because we’ve never had the mechanism to do so. But now we will! Rossanne is setting up an online members’ forum which will provide a way for us all to speak directly to each other. The system we will be using is called Slack, which is a very popular chat-room-type system for internal communication. It should be ready for use within the next few days and when it is, we will take you through it and show you how to get maximum benefit from it.

We also want to remind you about the website members’ portal (password: circlecraftmembers), which is being continually beefed up with pertinent information. Since COVID-19 hit, Rossanne has been posting useful links under the Resources tab. At yesterday’s Board meeting, we brainstormed online marketplaces, which will be added there soon, but this is an example of how members can help each other. If you know of helpful websites that you’ve been frequenting yourself or know of online sales opportunities, please send them to Rossanne so she can post them for everyone’s benefit.


There’s never been a more critical time for us all to pull together and support each other in whatever way we can. We’re looking forward to hearing directly from all of you, so please fill in the survey!

Wishing you all the best.


Warm regards.

Circle Craft Board