The City of Poway will offer local small business owners some much-needed financial assistance. Thursday evening, the Poway City Council approved providing an emergency assistance recovery loan to businesses that qualify.
The program will use upwards of $2 million of the city’s general fund extreme events/public safety reserves for the loans. Small business owners would then be eligible for loans ranging from $5,000 to $50,000.
“It will definitely help us,” said LG Esmile, the owner of Wholly Crepe.
He hasn’t seated customers inside his restaurant in more than five weeks.
“It’s frustrating because this is my only source of income,” he said.
“It’s been kind of tough,” said Jeannie Hume.
Her Crystal Gardens Florist only has six employees, but Hume said it’s been difficult keeping them busy.
“The phones aren’t ringing. People are not walking through the door,” she said. “None of us know: Is this going to be over in a month? Is it going to be two months?”
The City of Poway doesn’t know either. However, both owners said an emergency loan would help.
“It’s going to help keep us afloat, just to bridge the gap,” said Esmile.
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“We’re just making the best of it,” said Hume. “Honestly, if we don’t all stay positive and keep each other up, it would be very easy to be very sad.”
A city spokeswoman said the application process will be posted Friday on the city's website Friday.
