Local chili chain Gold Star is partnering with the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce (OTR Chamber) to raise funds for its Small Business Fund via the Coney Crate fundraising program.
Gold Star’s Coney Crate initiative was inspired by the #GivingTuesdayNow movement, and is the company’s response to the need to assist nonprofits and local businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This weekend — on Saturday, July 4 and Sunday, July 5 — all of Gold Star’s 75-plus locations will donate 20% of Coney Crate sales to the OTR Chamber’s Small Business Fund.
Created in 2000, the OTR Chamber launched the Small Business Fund to stabilize and strengthen the neighborhood’s most vulnerable local businesses in the form of restart grants.
According to the chamber, “Now more than ever OTR’s small businesses need your help on the path to recovery. Our organizations share the goal of prioritizing and deepening the success of minority-owned businesses in OTR and the OTR Chamber’s Small Business Relief Fund is no different. It’s time to stand up and tell our small businesses you have their back by relieving barriers to reopening, which includes any additional damage incurred during the unrest.”
The fund is currently at 80% of its $500,000 goal.
For more information or to support the fund directly, visit otrchamber.com/backontherise.
You can also directly support the Minority Business Emergency Assistance Fund via mightycause.com. This group, which includes the OTR Chamber, Urban League, MORTAR and more is looking to raise $100,000 for critical business assistance to help minority small business communities cover expenses, pay employees and weather COVID-19.
Through the Coney Crate program, Gold Star has raised $17,753.56 for three area nonprofits so far: Sew Masks 4 Cincy, the Freestore Foodbank and the Athens County Food Pantry. The OTR Chamber will be their fourth partner organization this weekend.
Next week, Gold Star will be donating 20% of Coney Crate sales during a specific timeframe to MORTAR, the business accelerator for marginalized entrepreneurs.
This article appears in The Summer Guide.