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'No One Can Do It Alone': Task Force Helps Arvada Small Businesses Get PPE

ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4) - When officials in Arvada heard story after story of small business owners having a hard time getting essential equipment to protect workers, it stepped in with CARES Act money to help buy personal protective equipment.

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"COVID definitely took the legs out from under us a little bit. Like everyone else in the community it was a big shock," said Shelley Flood, the owner of Red Silo Coffee Roasters. "It became very difficult very quickly to get a hold of products to keep our customers and our staff safe."

The City of Arvada teamed up with the Visitor's Center, Olde Town Arvada Business Improvement District, Chamber of Commerce and others as part of the Arvada Resiliency Taskforce. The group spearheaded the effort to use federal money to purchase seven pallets of PPE.

So far more than 200 businesses have benefited from the program.

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"They have a stake in our success and want to see us be successful," Flood said. "It was a huge deal for us because we couldn't get a hold of common items. Face masks, thermometers and what not. You couldn't get masks. I was literally sewing them for my staff in the basement. Just because we want to do everything we can to protect our people."

"No one can do it alone," said Jean Gordon, the Director of the Arvada Visitor's Center. "We started doing Zoom focus groups with groups of restaurants, groups of retail, groups of service industry and this PPE was a common theme. Once that CARES funding came into play we knew if they could help us source it, the task force would then be the arm to get it out to the businesses."

Distributions have included paper towels, sanitizer, cleaning solution, and most importantly masks and a thermometer.

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"It's almost impossible to acquire a thermometer so they just handed us one, so it was really great," Flood said. "Because you can't get them and it's a requirement from the Jefferson County Department of Public Health. All of our staff, every morning when they come in they take their temperature and they jot it down in a log."

"They are all like gold right now, and I think we can all say this cleanliness isn't going away anytime soon," Gordon said.

Companies must have an Arvada business license and have some kind of front-facing customer interaction in order to qualify for the PPE.

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