On Monday, April 6th, Mt. Airy Community Development Corporation distributed over $10,000 in the first disbursement of its COVID-19 Business Relief Fund. The Fund was launched on March 17th as a service of the Go Mt. Airy Business Association, which the organization manages.
“We’re really proud of the way the Mt. Airy community stepped up in a time of crisis to donate money to businesses who need it immediately,” said Brad Copeland, Mt. Airy CDC’s Executive Director. “We’re also very grateful to The Cottage Bridge Foundation, who helped us reach our goal of $10,000 with a matching donation.” The Pennsylvania-based family foundation pledged matching funds up to $5,000.
As a manner of disbursing funds as quickly as possible, requests for funding were fielded and reviewed by Copeland and the Mt. Airy CDC Board of Directors. The distribution amounts ranged from $250 to $2,000 and were awarded to the following eight local businesses:
- Azima Therapeutic Massage
- Elizabeth A. Liddell, PC
- Jacobs Catering, DBA Brotherly Grub
- The Juice Room
- Kreative Scribes, LLC
- Malelani Cafe
- Queenie’s Pets
- Rothe Florists
BUSINESSES OLD AND NEW ALIKE IN NEED
“In January we signed a lease in Mt. Airy and we were just getting to know the neighborhood,” said Tanesha Trippett, owner of both the new Brotherly Grub Cafe (7135 Germantown Avenue) and a catering business. “This pandemic has killed my catering business, so the cafe is really all that I have right now, with one chef riding this wave with me. This money will be used to pay the rent and make some wiggle room to bring back another employee I had to lay off. I can’t say ‘thank you’ enough.”
Herb Rothe III, the fourth-generation owner of Rothe Florists, which has called Mt. Airy home since 1908, is equally grateful. “We know it’s tough for everyone out there and that the stress levels are approaching max capacity,” he said. “We are so very fortunate to be in such a tightly knit community that does support its local businesses.”
Acupuncturist Elizabeth Liddell is using her allotment to pay it forward. “As a small business owner who has shut down my acupuncture office during this crisis, I am determined to give those who rent space in my office and who are now without income a break on rent,” she said. “I also have pledged to continue to pay my office cleaners during the shut down. This contribution from the Mt. Airy Business Relief Fund will make that so much easier this month as I stay current on my office rent and utilities.”
With monies from the first round distributed, Mt. Airy CDC has launched a second round of the COVID-19 Business Relief Fund. It can be found here: https://mtairycdc.org/covid19relief
