Workers stock shelves at the Publix in Plaza del Mar in Manalapan. Some items like toilet paper and fresh meats and eggs have been hard to keep in stock. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Christine Davis
The Small Business Association and local Chambers of Commerce have some suggestions to aid businesses in getting through the coronavirus pandemic. Here are some of them.
The Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce suggests “shop local, utilize local” by buying gift certificates, buying tickets to future events, ordering restaurant food to go, and by attending online classes, concerts, religious services, and so on in support of local businesses. This has been a repeated message on the chamber’s Wednesday morning weekly videos, “Delray Morning Live” posted on its Facebook page (www.facebook.com/delraybeach.)
The city also has links to resources on its homepage at www.delraybeachfl.gov.
The Delray Chamber has a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/delraybeach) with a weekly video on Wednesday mornings to help community members stay abreast of business news.
The Boca Chamber lists various links for businesses, where among the resources are links to Small Business Loans and SBA Disaster Assistance, and information about the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program. Visit https://web.bocaratonchamber.com/the_chamber/coronavirus.aspx.
The emergency loan program, activated by Gov. Ron DeSantis, will provide short-term, interest-free loans, and the application period runs through May 8.
Small business owners with two to 100 employees located in Florida and affected by COVID-19 can apply for short-term loans up to $50,000. These loans are interest free for up to one year and are designed to bridge the gap to either federal SBA loans or commercially available loans.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, manager of the program, will work with the borrower to ensure that repayment of the loan isn’t an overwhelming burden. To be eligible, a business must have been established prior to March 9, 2020, and demonstrate economic impacts as a result of COVID-19.
For more information, contact the Florida Small Business Development Center Network at 866-737-7232 or email Disaster@FloridaSBDC.org. Link is here: https://floridadisasterloan.org/
On another note, the U.S. Small Business Administration is working to help small business owners with counseling to navigate the pandemic. It will also work with state governors to provide long-term disaster relief loans, up to $2 million in assistance per small business. It also offers guidelines for loans made by its partnering lenders, community development organizations and micro-lending institutions. For information, visit www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans.
The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, in partnership with philanthropists, business leaders and government entities, has established the COVID-19 Response Fund, which will deploy resources to community-based organizations that are working with those disproportionately affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
These include community health centers, homeless shelters, preschool and after-school programs, food pantries and other social service providers.
As of March 14, nearly $500,000 was raised in less than 48 hours. Contributions included $100,000 from Florida Power & Light Co., $100,000 from the Stoops Family Foundation and $100,000 from the Community Foundation. Additional funding partners included Jim Robo and Meredith Trim; SBA Communication Corp.; Sherry and Tom Barrat; Julie and Peter Cummings, and Susan and Peter Brockway. Contributions may be made at www.yourcommunityfoundation.org.
Because of the evolving nature of needs during the pandemic, responses from government and other organizations are constantly changing. Please check with the organizations for updates.
Christel Silver, owner of Silver International Realty in Delray Beach, served as a global ambassador of the National Association of Realtors at real estate meetings in Vienna, where she spoke to young real estate agents in Austria on how to be international members of NAR.
The Institute for Regional Conservation, a nonprofit that aims to protect, restore and manage ecological diversity in the long term, received a $1,000 individual “Volunteer for Good” grant from the New York Life Foundation. The award recognized the volunteer service of John Campanola, an agent with New York Life’s South Florida General Office in Sunrise.
The grant supported a coastal restoration field trip of Earth science students from Atlantic Community High School, who worked to remove nonnative asparagus fern while learning about the root nodules full of water that make this plant so invasive. Additionally, students picked up trash from the beach, focusing on micro-plastics.
South Palm Beach County agents were among the honorees at Douglas Elliman Real Estate’s annual awards ceremony, the Ellies, last month in Uncasville, Connecticut. Among the top 10 teams from Florida were the Senada Adzem team, which placed fifth; the team of Randy Ely and Nick Malinosky, which placed seventh; and the Marisela Cotilla luxury team, which placed ninth.
These teams also received the Pinnacle Club Award for earning more than $1 million in 2019.
Annie Davis, owner of Palm Beach Travel, which has an office in Manalapan, received the inaugural Black Pineapple Award from the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, at an event held at Sarabeth’s Park Avenue South in New York City. The Black Pineapple Award, named after a type of pineapple that’s found only in Antigua, honored Davis as one of 40 key partners, tour operators, resorts, travel agents and media who worked to promote Antigua and Barbuda in 2019.
The Bill Gove Golden Gavel Toastmasters Club of Boynton Beach celebrated its 20th anniversary and Bill Gove’s birthday on Jan. 24 in Citrus Glen.
Founded by professional speaker Steve Siebold and insurance sales trainer Ed Lamont, the club was named for Bill Gove, who died in 2001. He served as the first president of the National Speakers Association and earned Toastmasters’ Golden Gavel Award in 1991. He was a charter member of the Boynton club.
Bill Gove Toastmasters has achieved Toastmasters International’s highest club award of “President’s Distinguished” for 13 consecutive and 17 of 19 years. Three members have served as District 47 governors, and one was elected to Toastmaster International’s board of directors and is in line to become the organization’s international president in 2022.
Bernard and Maggie Palmer, of SRD Building, sold a new waterfront estate at 320 S. Maya Palm Drive to Robert Irene for $12.6 million on Feb. 26, according to public records.
The four-bedroom, 7,753-square-foot home sits on the Fishtail Palm Waterway in Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club in Boca Raton. Irene heads Asembia, a New Jersey firm that provides services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The property was sold by David Roberts of Royal Palm Properties.
Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.
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