Businesses recover from tornadoes: Here’s how to get help

Jul. 29--An area business partnership is visiting area businesses impacted by the Memorial Day tornadoes to get an idea of their immediate needs and guide them to available resources.

More than 300 visits have been made to small and large businesses in tornado-damaged areas by volunteers with BusinessFirst!, a business retention and expansion program organized by 33 communities in Montgomery, Greene, Preble, and Darke counties.

"Our visits are more of us trying to listen to them and what their immediate needs are so we can relay the information to the proper people," said Erik Collins, director of community and economic development for Montgomery County. "Then more further coordinating will happen for more visits, it's an ongoing process."

BusinessFirst! will help connect each business and company to resources that are able to help them in some way during the rebuilding process, after assessments are finished.

"The important thing is we have been sharing, it's been very fluid in terms of information that our team has been relaying to all of our communities and to our resource partners," Collins said.

The key information the team relays includes new updates, what companies and individuals need to do when applying for assistance and make sure to get all electrical, gas and water turned off so the business is not charged.

The data collected from visits will be given to FEMA, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for future use to be able to get additional financial help, if needed, and for follow-up questions on future visits.

"The important part is that each of those communities has a relationship with those businesses and we want to do what we can to support that," said Gwen Eberly, economic development and planning manager for Montgomery County.

Once the need of public safety was met, BusinessFirst! representatives went to local businesses to assess the physical damages each had sustained.

During the visits, each team covers one city in a few hours and speaks with the business for 10 to 15 minutes.

Collins said once the group gets the immediate need met, then they will do more walk throughs because the needs are consistently changing. Then, the group will look at the long-term goals.

"I cannot repeat this enough, but if your business has been damaged, call the SBA, go to one of those centers, and talk with them," Eberly said. "They can talk to you about what options are available, they have very low-cost loans."

"Sometimes you can use the loans for insurance premiums."

The group has focused on local businesses and companies in Vandalia, Harrison Twp., Trotwood and Brookville. Beavercreek has not received as much attention.

Even though Beavercreek saw significant loss and damage, most of the businesses are commercially owned, national retailers and real estate investment companies that own properties.

The business visits have been mostly made by volunteers from neighboring communities, county officials, the Dayton Chamber, Dayton Development Coalition, Better Business Bureau, City Wide, Business Solutions Center and the Small Business Development Center.

Cathi Spaugy, director of Harrison Twp. development department, said she is overwhelmed by the amount of volunteers on these business visits and those that have help the township.

Harrison Twp. had a walk July 17 that focused on the North Main corridor, brought about 30 volunteers and they visited about 150 businesses. They are scheduled to have another walk to focus on the North Dixie corridor and visit about 100 businesses.

John Roberts, owner of Fox Cleaners on North Main Street, said he believes these visits are a great idea for not only the officials to see what type of damages were sustained or just to have a general conversation about their business.

"I just want to make sure that people know this isn't just a splash in the pan for the providers, this is a long-term initiative that we're going to continually be out there communicating with businesses to see what assistance they might need," Collins said.

Eberly said business owners should ask about their options or apply for loans through the SBA.

"Moving forward, please ask the questions," said Amber Holloway, Vandalia assistant city manager. "There are resources available and we want to help you and connect you to those."

For more information about the program, visit businessfirstdaytonregion.com or call Collins at 937-901-5574 or Eberly at 937-776-3017.

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