SASKATOON -- A Saskatoon firefighter with Pro-Tec Fire Services at the Saskatoon International Airport is being honoured in Jones Soda's "Unsung Heroes" initiative.
The initiative aims to bring awareness to those who have gone above and beyond during 2020. His photo is one of six chosen to be featured in Canada and the U.S.
"I'm quite honoured to be able to get this but quite literally, unsung heroes, I just take it in stride because that's the way my life is," Jody Ruest said.
Ruest is a captain and has been a firefighter for more than 40 years. He recently received medals for federal and provincial protective services.
He started his career in in the 70s as a volunteer firefighter in Nipawin and followed in his father's footsteps. He landed a job at Transport Canada as a heavy equipment operator and eventually switched to firefighting at the airport in 1981.
The photo was taken at the fire training area at the Saskatoon airport in 2008. Ruest thanks his daughter, who submitted his photo six times to the beverage company.
Maisie Antoniello, vice president of marketing at Jones Soda, says that 99.9 per cent of the photos featured on the soda bottles are consumer generated.
She says when COVID-19 hit, the company figured out how they could do their part to create inspiration.
The company put out a call out on social media asking for consumers to submit photos of who they think would fit the initiative.
"2020 for sure was a tough year, 2021, still tough for lots of reasons and just realizing that we needed to use our platform to put some positivity out there."
The "Unsung Heroes" soda bottles will be hitting the shelves in Canada and the United States by the end of the month.
Reust was given a dozen green apple sodas with his image but will be on the lookout to spot his face in stores, particularly to find his favourite flavours, grape and root beer.
