CULPEPER STAR-EXPONENT | Virginia 30-Day Fund: a lifeline for Culpeper small businesses

Several small businesses in Culpeper recently received a needed, immediate financial boost from a fellow Virginia business owner concerned about helping his colleagues through the COVID-19 crisis.

Technology entrepreneur Pete Snyder, of Charlottesville, co-founded the Virginia 30-Day Fund two months ago with his wife, Burson, to save jobs and provide hope in a time of illness, death and drastic economic stress due to public health restrictions.

Since forming, the privately-backed Fund has awarded forgivable loans, swiftly granted, of up to $3,000 to 111 small businesses and counting across Virginia.

“We’re at war—a health and economic war,” Snyder said in a phone conversation Wednesday. “It’s an economic war on Main Street.”

A self-described “serial entrepreneur,” he said half of small businesses only have two weeks’ worth of cash on hand should something—like a global pandemic—go wrong.

“Most businesses will die,” Snyder said, adding the 30-Day Fund aims to “Get them through this death valley.”

Come out stronger

Culpeper business owner Shawn Moss, of the popular eatery Shawn’s Smokehouse BBQ, was appreciative to receive a grant through the program. Restaurants have been among the hardest hit by COVID-19 since the state ordered dining rooms closed more than a month ago to contain spread of the virus.

Moss divided the $3,000 he received from the Virginia 30-day Fund among his three restaurants—in Culpeper, Fredericksburg and Warrenton—to cover basic monthly expenses.

“We are holding up,” he said in a phone conversation on Wednesday. “Sales are down at least 50 percent, but we are still doing curbside pickup and delivery.”

Moss marveled at how supportive his Culpeper community has been. He mentioned a neighbor who walked across the street to give him an $800 check as pre-payment on meals for local frontline workers.

Backing the community has always been a touchstone for how Moss does business and the community has responded in turn, he said.

“Even through these tough times, the customers have showed up for us,” he said. “God has blessed us so far.”

Moss said they have been able to keep all of their staff working, including his two teenage children. He added he and his wife, Madga, are using the down time to spruce up their restaurants.

When they are able to reopen the dining area, Moss said, it will have fewer tables: “We’re going to focus a while on our carryout and delivery, make sure people can get in and out quick,” he said.

Moss is staying positive in spite of an unknown future.

“Instead of saying, why is this happening and getting upset, we said, let’s innovate, adapt, change and come out of this stronger and more efficient,” he said.

Double whammy

The Virginia 30 Day Fund has helped sustain that attitude in the small business community and has been a lifeline for 18 Grams Coffee Lab on Waters Place, near the Culpeper Depot.

Owner Joe Coppola said he used the money to make payroll for his few employees.

“We’re not making enough to make payroll right now,” he said, noting he has had to dip into personal funds to keep the coffee and bike shop open.

Coppola said he can’t thank Snyder and the Virginia 30 Day Fund enough for their support. While 18 Grams Coffee Lab is still doing takeout, curbside pickup and delivery, having to close seating inside has had a major impact. So has not being able to interact one-on-one with customers on the bicycle side of the store.

“It’s two businesses in one—coffee and bike shop. That is down, being a fit shop—that is nonexistent because it has to be done in close proximity. It’s a double whammy,” Coppola said.

The Virginia 30-Day Fund grant will help keep the doors open until the end of May, he said. Coppola added that his landlord is working with him in deferring rent, but it’s no handout.

Part of the small business program is paying it forward, Coppola said. To that end, when a customer purchases a bag of coffee at 18 Grams, 100 percent of that money will go back to the 30 Day Fund, he said. The store is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and by appointment in the bike shop.

Helping hundreds of small businesses

Snyder said the program is meant to provide an immediate boost while business owners wait for any federal relief bogged down in red tape.

“We want them to focus on taking care of their employees, No. 1, keep their health insurance, to be able to keep a handful of people on in these uncertain times,” he said.

Eligible businesses must employ three to 30 employees, be based in Virginia for at least a year and be owned and operated by a Virginia resident. Snyder expected they would have helped 120 businesses by the end of the day on Wednesday.

The program currently has 753 open applications, he said, and has received more than $650,000 in donations: “I believe we will be able to fund hundreds of small businesses. We are just getting started.”

The application at va30dayfund.com takes less than 10 minutes to complete, Snyder said. Applicants should include a short video of themselves, preferably inside their business, explaining why they qualify for the funds.

Word of the relief has certainly reached Culpeper, he said.

“Culpeper has been unbelievable what its business community has done and the leadership,” Snyder said of the more than half-dozen applications the program has received from the town. “Because of how tight the business community is.”