(WAVY) — The efforts to get small business quick $3,000 loans continue across Virginia. One of the most recent ones here in Hampton Roads is at Hummingbird Macarons and Desserts on Granby Street in Norfolk.
“This is the best chocolate chip cookie you will ever eat, and it happens to be vegan.” Hummingbird’s owner Kisha Moore told us.
Moore says her cookie was voted best chocolate chip cookie in Hampton Roads, but times have been tough due to COVID-19.
“Being on the other side, I feel like I’m two different people, and I’m not the same woman who went into the storm.”
Four weeks of no income turned into 8 weeks for Moore, but business is back and open thanks in part to the Virginia 30 Day Fund.
The nonprofit Virginia 30 Day Fund was launched by Virginia technology entrepreneur Pete Snyder and his wife and so far, the fund has given 300 forgivable loans totaling $900,000.
40 loans have been awarded in Hampton Roads according to Snyder.
“I can’t say enough about the loan. It is an incredible fund. It was quick. It was really quick from the time I got a call from Pete Snyder, and the very next day the funds were deposited. For us, the loan helped us to continue to pay our team and it is designed to create jobs,” Moore said.
“I am a survivor,” Moore told us. “Pete believed in our cause, he understood, he knew what we were about, and then he deposited the money.”
The only requirement of the forgivable loan is to pay it forward when you can. Moore does that today.
“It inspired me even more. I intentionally go out weekly, and I have a list of places I go to purchase food, and clothing, and other things, and to buy local, and that’s how I continue to give back.”
If you are a small business, and you need a small business loan go to this link and apply.