Huron Country issued the following announcement on Nov. 19.
The County of Huron, in partnership with Community Futures Huron, is pleased to announce the six recipients of the Huron Recovery Grant Program micro-financing.
This program was aimed towards supporting existing small businesses in Huron County that have continued to make significant changes as they pivot to maintain operations and adapt to COVID-19 realities. Grants of $2,500 will be awarded to the successful recipients to help them offset costs associated with this transition.
Successful recipients of the Huron Recovery Grant Program include:
Morrison Berries (Lucknow) – Morrison Berries Country Market is a family-run strawberry farm offering pick-your-own strawberries, already picked strawberries and an on-farm bakery. In an effort to pivot and save a perishable crop, they purchased a flash freezer to individually freeze each berry at a high rate of speed. The Recovery Grant will be used to facilitate the nutrition labelling requirements needed to resell their frozen berries at off-farm locations.
Pick a Posie (Blyth) – Pick a Posie is a retail store that sells second-hand vintage clothing and accessories, traditional costumes as well as sewing services and alterations. Due to COVID-19, their primary target market of tourists and costumed event rentals were lost, so they are pivoting to online sales and garnering a larger local client base. The Recovery Grant will help them purchase more traditional advertising spots (wayfinding signage and other forms of print advertising) to help create awareness to the local market.
Steve and Mary’s On the Square (Goderich) – Steve and Mary’s On the Square is a family restaurant specializing in quality home-cooked meals. To adapt to the realities of COVID-19, they offered take-out, but also shifted to creating a successful freezer meal program. They will use the Recovery Grant monies towards longer-term advertising ventures including a car wrap and more.
The Cotton Harvest Quilt Shop (Seaforth) – The Cotton Harvest Quilt Shop is a boutique shop offering vintage reproduction fabrics, heritage prints and embroidery. To adapt to COVID-19 realities, they will be using the Recovery Grant funds to enhance their workshop space to accommodate social distancing and increase the quality of their online classes.
The Family Tree (Wingham) – The Family Tree is a second-hand consignment store offering quality products at amazing prices for the whole family. To pivot and make their business function better while doing business remotely, they will be using their Recovery Grant monies to update their current point of sale (POS) system to a cloud-based system, shift to using an app based system for consigners and upgrade their hardware for processing sales and managing their social media. This grant will help take them to the next level before investing in an e-commerce website.
The Yoga Den (Goderich) – The Yoga Den offers a variety of yoga, pilates and meditation classes in their studio location and in public spaces in Goderich. To adapt to the realities of COVID-19, they will use the Recovery Grant to enhance their website and purchase technology for improved online classes including a camera and an online storage system to create a better, user-friendly product for their clients.
Applications for this program closed on August 30, 2020. Applicants were asked to attend a “Perfect Pitch” webinar series, then deliver a 10-minute virtual pitch in October. Successful recipients were selected by a Grant Review Committee.
This program was led by the Huron County Economic Development department, with $15,000 in funds and training support provided through a partnership with Community Futures Huron.
For more information about the Huron Recovery Grant Program, please contact Patrick Donnelly, Entrepreneur and Business Coach, at 519.524.8394 ext. 3307 or by email at pdonnelly@huroncounty.ca.
Huron County continues to urge all residents to practice physical distancing and proper hygiene protocols outlined by the Provincial Medical Officer of Health. Stay informed on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation in Huron County by visiting the Huron-Perth Public Health website.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Huron Country
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