The entire business community has been dealt a crushing blow with the Stay Home, Stay Safe order. As local small business owners struggle to innovate and take care of their employees, there are several people working to encourage them and offer support.
Lisa Bowman, owner of Sir Speedy Printing in Port Huron, started the #porthuronstrong campaign and used her sign printing expertise to get other businesses involved. When asked what motivated her, Lisa said, “When we first got the news that places were going to be shutdown, of course panic set in including worrying about my employees that are like daughters to me. Then I thought I need to do a banner with a positive message to let everyone know we are in this together. Being a 10 year Breast Cancer survivor, I know how important it is to stay positive and strong during hard times.” Michigan Mutual paid for part of the cost and installation of a banner version of the sign to display on top of their building, and you can find more of these red & white signs throughout Downtown reminding everyone that “Life’s roughest storms prove the strength of our anchors.”
Cynthia Cutright, Director of the Port Huron Downtown Development Authority, has been working hard to connect businesses with relief programs and keep them encouraged, especially in light of the cancellation of this summer’s Blue Water Fest. “One of the most amazing things about our downtown is we have a wonderful community of business owners. This is a hard hit, and it’s been a very scary time for everybody, but everybody is so optimistic. It’s amazing to see already the resilience in these folks. I’m going to be doing everything along with them to make sure we come back stronger than ever.”
Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand
