Mundare Mortgage Broker Sharing the Love

Mundare Mortgage Broker Sharing the Love

Michelle Pinon News Advertiser

The Town of Mundare is known as the “small town with a big heart” and local mortgage broker Jason Kowal has been sharing a piece of his heart with local residents and businesses through the LOVE-19 challenge.

The special initiative was first introduced by DLC Maximal Mortgages to give all of its brokers a chance to participate. Kowal accepted the challenge and officially kicked-off his campaign on April 14.

The LOVE-19 challenge allows Kowal to give away 19 gift cards to support local businesses hit by COVID-19. People can either sign up to win or support a local business by going to Jason.Love19.com

Mundare Mayor Mike Saric supported Kowal during the launch of his campaign. Saric thanked Kowal for taking on the challenge, and stated, “It’s great to see that local people are helping other local businesses in this time of trouble and helping them actually get people back into their stores.” Saric donated the first four gift certificates to give away to people in the community.

Local mortgage broker Jason Kowal stands beside the world-famous Stawnichy’s sausage statue in Mundare. The massive kielbasa stands 42 feet tall and weighs 12,000 pounds. (Jason Kowal/Submitted Photo)

Kowal said Saric has shown great leadership as the mayor, and as a former business owner, and that it’s been nice to receive his assistance.

With four weeks left to go in the campaign, Kowal said the response by residents and businesses has been terrific. Kowal said he has received donations from other local businesses and residents to purchase gift cards. To date, almost 40 businesses have been nominated, and he has been touched by the heartfelt thanks and gratitude shown to local businesses in both Mundare and Vegreville. Even though Kowal won’t be able to accommodate all of the nominations, he said he is planning to recognize all of them in some way.

Kowal said a lot of home-based and mom and pop businesses don’t get a lot of recognition, and he has really enjoyed learning more about their businesses and visiting some of them over the past month and a half. He said there are a lot of risks operating a small business, and with the additional challenges and stresses with COVID-19 it ‘s nice to be able to offer something like this. He is also hoping the exposure will generate even more business to local businesses as well as help promote tourism in the region.

Ace Babcock, who won one of the gift cards, is impressed by the campaign. “My experience has been great. I think it is so important to support local, especially during these challenging, unprecedented times.

Local businesses are the backbone of our community, and I believe it is greatly appreciated by the local businesses as well as local folks and participants in this campaign. Jason is a local business owner himself as well as a farmer. He understands the direct impact COVID-19 has had over the last few months on local communities and it is very humbling that he has taken the time out of his own busy schedule to organize LOVE-19.

The email updates on the weekly winners are so fun. What a great way to show local support and brighten someone’s week.”