The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation has reopened the window to apply for its Hurricane Helene Business Resiliency Disaster Grants.
The grants are meant as emergency funds available to businesses in Watauga, Ashe, and Avery counties. The Chamber Foundation distributed over $555,000 in donated funding during the first round of allocations.
David Jackson is President and CEO of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce. He says that for businesses still trying to recover from COVID losses, Helene presented a new host of challenges.
"We saw our tourism economy completely shut off at the worst possible time in our calendar," says Jackson. "For business survival, they needed cash flow, so we developed this program to help with that."
Tourism is a major factor in the region’s economy, and Helene appeared just before the busy fall season.
Privately funded donations have also helped with community resources such as licensed child care facilities.
Jackson says that while visitors may encounter an altered, and in some places, scarred landscape, the transportation infrastructure near Boone has been shored up, and the region is ready to welcome people back.
"It is completely within bounds for you to come and hug those small businesses that you saw, that you tried to support from afar," says Jackson. "We need people to be part of our healing here."
Grant applications for businesses in the High Country can be received through this Friday, November 15.