Small Business Resilience
This year started with so much hope.
Huddled shoulder to shoulder, a fanatical red mass celebrated as our hometown football team took its victory lap. Trickling down Grand and syphoning to Union, we were euphorically unified in disbelief. Overwhelming excitement and community pride provided warmth and, for a moment in time, we were together. We were united. We were one.
Then everything changed.
We didn’t see a health crisis coming. Nobody did. But, oh, how we’ve felt its effects. This will only last a few weeks, we thought, while businesses furloughed and floundered. Fear escalated as we scrambled to make sense of it all. Our opinions were divided and widespread but one thing was for certain - the vibrant heartbeat of a thriving city was reduced to a weakened, waning pulse. And we all waited. Pandemic purgatory.
Small businesses still suffered, some shuttered. Yet, amidst uncertainty and despair, blossomed resilience. A glimmer of hope for today, a cautious optimism for tomorrow. Our beloved businesses adapted and adopted new ways to keep their doors open. Curbside pickup, street-side dining, hand sanitizer, even PPE so that we could do our small part to lessen COVID’S blow. On the brink, our local businesses gave it their all. And to the best of our ability, we met the call.
But now, Kansas City, the backbone of our community faces a new challenge we must rise to meet.
As the weather shifts from brisk to biting, we must continue finding ways to support our small business friends and neighbors. Our midwest winters, while unrelenting and unforgiving, must not be a barrier but rather a motivator for us to help maintain their livelihoods. Every dollar we spend must be mindful of the situation at hand, because a single dollar might make all the difference to them.
Options abound for us to continue to support them safely and cautiously. Online orders and curbside pickups will be the lifeblood that sustains them through this season. Makers markets move outdoors, adopting the European-style model, providing income to local artisans. Early shopping will spread out crowds, and help keep the community safe. Throughout KC, local-purchase dollars will recirculate and reverberate and while we don’t know what tomorrow will bring– what we do know is with so much on the line, we must face it unified. Ask yourself: what small businesses make our city home? Go support them.
My dearest Kansas City, you’ve been through so much this year. We all have. But on the brink, our resilience to support one another has been a light in the darkest of times. Our efforts to preserve the wellbeing of our friends and businesses, an inspiration. And although this situation is daunting and exhausting, we will get through this– we have to.
Together. United. As one.
