SAULT STE. MARIE -- A Sault business owner's campaign aimed at supporting the community through the April shutdown will see someone have all their meals paid for them this month.

Greg Lefave's #wevegotyourback campaign asks Saultites to ditch their food delivery apps and order takeout directly from local restaurants, with the promise that he will pay for someone's bill entirely out of pocket.

"First and foremost, it was designed as a way to increase revenue for these businesses," said Lefave, the owner of two car dealerships in the city. "No. 2, it lifts up their spirits, being able to pay the bills is one thing but they've been through just a crushing time over the last 12 months."

Lefave is asking those who wish to take part to keep their receipts and to tag him in a post on social media with the #wevegotyourback hashtag. From there, you'll be entered to have your meals paid for you.

Challenged other businesses

"I know I'm not the only one in the Sault with the means to do this," said Lefave. "So I have challenged a lot of people who are on my Facebook feed or kind of follow me, to join in with me."

One of those is Kurtis McDermid, owner of two home maintenance businesses in the city.

"I think I jumped on board with Greg within a half hour of him posting it," he said. "By the end of that day, we had texts on our phone from others, saying they wanted to get involved and I had to turn my ringers off because I was just getting notification after notification."

Despite the campaign's run of less than a week so far, posts have already begun to flood social media. McDermid said he thinks it's because the Sault's small business community is very tight-knit when it comes to supporting each other.

"We've always got each other's back," he said. "So it's just time to help support them the best we can, and it kind of needed a little bit more than just me and my family going and supporting them."

So far, six other businesses have joined Lefave's campaign, but he said he's hoping to get more.

Lefave said if a winner's bill is only a small amount, he will continue to draw more winners.