TND, Republic Services, Announce Recipients of Small Business Relief Grant

Special to the Journal

The Neighborhood Developers (TND) and the Republic Services Charitable Foundation are committed to helping Revere businesses respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and have announced a small business revitalization grant of $105,000 delivered with the support of NeighborWorks America.

“Republic Services is dedicated to serving the community in Revere,” said Frank Chimera, general manager of Republic Services. “The Committed to Serve initiative is a unique opportunity to support a local nonprofit while also helping seven small businesses in our area during these challenging times.”

The small business revitalization effort is a part of Republic Services’ Committed to Serve initiative, which was launched last spring to help support the company’s employees, customers and communities through the pandemic. To help communities, the Republic Services Charitable Foundation is providing charitable contributions to nonprofits to support small business revitalization projects across the country.

“Local minority-owned small businesses at Sandler Square and along Shirley Avenue are struggling economically due to COVID-19 and local economic conditions,” said Rasha Mikhael, TND’s Revere Community Building Manager. Mikhael has been instrumental in securing connections with businesses and conducting several surveys to better understand the revitalization needs of businesses.

“Through multiple surveys conducted, we were able to really narrow down the list of urgent needs to better position these businesses in an environment where they could thrive; we are so grateful for Republic Services’ generous contribution allowing us to help bring these visions to life,” said Mikhael.

Among the grant recipients is Seaside Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy, that has been vaccinating patients since February.

“This grant came at a perfect time because now that the vaccine is available for everyone, we are expecting a lot more people to visit our pharmacy,” said Anh Vo, owner of Seaside Pharmacy. “We need the glass dividers to protect our staff better, we need a new register, to fix our shelves for vital storage, and seating for patients post vaccination.”

“This initiative will help us make our small pharmacy noticeable to the community because sometimes people don’t realize there is a pharmacy around the corner where they can just pick up antibiotics, or run over for other medical supplies, so this will really help the community here,” said Vo.

Along with neighboring businesses, Seaside Pharmacy serves a very diverse community that speaks multiple languages like Spanish, French, Khmer, Arabic, and Vietnamese.

Other recipients include a market, a service repair shop, and restaurants that are in need of capital and technical support to purchase equipment such as outdoor seating or to adapt their businesses to survive COVID-19.

Recipients of the grant assistance are:

1-Thmor Da Restaurant ( 144 Shirley Ave. Revere, MA 02151 )

2- Seaside Pharmacy (169 Shirley Ave. Revere, MA 02151 )

3- Season Boba Tea (196 Shirley Ave. Revere, MA 02151 )

4- Sabrine Bakery & Cafe ( 91 Centennial Ave. Revere, MA 02151 )

5- Esquite Mexican Street Food ( 194 Shirley Ave. Revere, MA 02151 )

6- Cellular One Repair ( name will be changed to F&J Juice Bar- Cafe) 76 Shirley Ave. Revere, MA 02151

7- Battambang Market ( 120 Shirley ave. Revere, MA 02151)