“We have an incredibly special downtown … It’s really a bustling center of life and activity and it makes Montpelier what it is.”

We speak with Dan Groberg, executive director of Montpelier Alive about how this organization that supports local downtown businesses in Montpelier, Vermont has been doing during the COVID-19 crisis.

HOW CAN YOU HELP (from Montpelier Alive’s website)

• Buy a gift card! The cash flow to the business with allow them to keep paying their rent and bills until they can reopen! More and more businesses are making it possible for you to buy gift cards online, and you can typically order over the phone as well!
• Shop online or by phone! Many businesses have added new shopping options to better serve you. Please keep supporting our local businesses! Click here for our directory of businesses offering online shopping and/or online gift card purchases.
• Order take-out or delivery!  Several restaurants are planning to add delivery options, and others are offering easy curbside pickup. 
• Commit to shopping and dining downtown when everything is back to normal. After a period of hardship, businesses will need you more than ever.

Please contact our federal representatives and your local legislator and demand real support to save our downtown. Congress must act immediately to stabilize our small and mid-sized employers in impacted industries by providing direct payroll and healthcare subsidies so that we can maintain our workforces and have a hope of recovering from this pandemic. 

Senator Bernie Sanders:
(202) 224-5141
Contact: www.sanders.senate.gov/contact/
Twitter: @SenSanders

Senator Patrick Leahy: 
(202) 224-4242
Contact: www.leahy.senate.gov/contact/
Twitter: @SenatorLeahy

Congressman Peter Welch: 
(202) 225-4115
Contact: https://welch.house.gov/contact
Twitter: @PeterWelch