Hello Sunnyside Members,

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We are hoping this message finds you all well and able to cope in these very unexpected times.

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As we sit here is isolation after a very stressful March break trip, we are wondering the same as you. I have read several dozen e-mails from suppliers, schools, retailers, as well as the government about what is being done to minimize the spread of Covid-19. Most of these precautions are happening in the here and now. For us here at Sunnyside we don’t have a crystal ball to see into the future 5 weeks from now. From the optimists (that’s us) point of view, we hope it will be better. However, we must prepare in case it doesn’t get better, as we have seen across the globe, this is not a quick and easy fix. Because this is such a fluid situation, we do have some time before the need to implement any directive. Our current mindset is to continue to work towards a May 1/ 2020 opening. We wake up every morning thinking this was all just a bad dream, but that soon turns to thankfulness to just be waking up and living in the wonderful community we have.

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Today we still have minimal essential staff working. For their safety, we ask that you don’t visit currently. They will not be picking up leaf bags and would like to minimize their contact with others. We are asking that all payments be made via email transfers and we are looking at other methods of payment to help ease the strain. We understand that some of you are not currently able to work, and we would like to help ease the stress for those in that position. Please contact the office to discuss payment plans or deferral of payments.

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These are unprecedented times and we will keep you up to date on any changes to our operations and services. We know you can’t wait to get here, enjoy the outdoors, and get back to regular life, us too. At this moment we are asking for patience from our members as we plan the best way to welcome you all back with your safety in mind, as well as the safety of my family, and our staff. Please use our members Facebook page to keep in contact with one another, to send positive messages to lift our spirits, with memories and plans for the upcoming season. It is those times that we can look forward to that will get us all through this together.

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As we get closer to the opening of the 2020 season, Sunnyside will be starting a major project sometime this summer. We have been directed by the Ministry of the Environment to implement a new strategy to deal with the septic from each of your units. More specifically how we deal with the gray water produced by each unit. Ten years ago, we had a similar engineering study done which concluded that our capacities and processes were acceptable well beyond what was expected by the Ministry at that time. We are unsure of the timelines and scope of this project yet. The engineers have been on site since late November and hope to have a plan in place by early summer. We feel we are well positioned to take on this project and it will put us in a better position for our business for the future. We hope that we can do most of the work in the offseason and spread it out over several years. This project will change the operations and landscape at Sunnyside, but we will work hard not to disrupt the day to day activities of our members. As with the current situation we will keep you up to date with any changes as they occur. If you have any questions of concerns, please direct them to Kevin or Melanie and we will try to answer them as best we can.

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Stay safe, stay positive and enjoy the time you spend with your love ones. We hope to see you all soon and enjoy the company without isolation and without having to practice social distancing.

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Thank you, stay positive, stay safe and enjoy your day,

Kevin, Melanie, Kaitlyn and Bryan