Since COVID-19 made its presence felt across North America, Canada and the United States have been wrestling with the pandemic. As the numbers of those affected continue to rise, and with deaths now being reported on a daily basis, government officials, medical experts and others in both countries have instituted numerous measures to stem the flow.

Along the way, numerous people have stepped up to help others through actions, donations and the investment of their time and energy.

Longtime serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Christopher Kape is among them. In 2001, the business leader founded Vancouver-based JAMCO Capital Partners Inc., an early-stage private equity investment and advisory firm that has provided private equity and strategic advisory services to many companies.

In addition, Kape has been active as a philanthropist for many years. His charity work, volunteer service and financial support of various initiatives has taken him around the world several times. When the coronavirus pandemic hit Canada, his first impulse was to jump in and see how he could be of help.

Initially, when deciding to close their doors due to COVID, he proposed donating the food from The Pie Hole, a Vancouver bakery with whom JAMCO has invested and Kape is a board member, to provide food to vulnerable families in the Vancouver and Burnaby areas. His effort was well-received and so appreciated by the recipient families.

With the spirit of giving back in mind, he realized just how to be of help again.

One of the big problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic was that stores were running out of such items as hand sanitizer. As a director and investor at Riversol Skin Care, a popular Vancouver skin care products company founded by Dr. Jason Rivers, Kape was in an excellent position to help when their brand new sanitizer hit their shelves. The Management and Board decided rather than sell the product and profit, they would donate the hand sanitizer to organizations in great need.

Riversol, which manufactures several different hypoallergenic, cruelty-free skin care products, donated cases with more than 20,000 units of the company’s hand sanitizer to community organizations in Canada, with Kape personally delivering the sanitizer to organizations near and dear to him including Canucks Place Children’s Hospice (CPCH) and the BC Cancer Agency.

One administrator at CPCH responded by saying that, “Our clinical team was so excited and so were the families in hospice. Those little blue-and-white bottles brought a lot of joy yesterday — and relief — as many do not have access to this kind of item as it has been sold out. With much gratitude — you made our day!”

Riversol also began giving each customer a free container of hand sanitizer with every full-size skin care order placed via its website, and is now offering $5 containers of hand sanitizer to anyone who needs it, with all proceeds funding the donation of additional hand sanitizer to local organizations and front line medical workers.

“We’re glad to be in a position to be able to help so many people, especially at such a difficult time,” says Chris Kape. He added that relief efforts will continue during the weeks ahead.