Resilience Fund-Tahoe awards first loan to Freshie's in South Lake Tahoe

The Resilience Fund-Tahoe has funded its first local loan to Freshies Tahoe. The funds helped save their outdoor patio deck, which was in desperate need of repair and will be critical to ensuring their future success serving customers outdoors.

“After many months of unsuccessfully trying multiple federal avenues for support of Freshies during the business disruption caused by the pandemic, we are thrilled to have qualified for this very generous Resilience Fund loan! We are ready to get our deck open! Thank you so much,” said owners Erik and Melodie Ulman.

“We are thrilled that our first loan is helping a favorite local restaurant in South Lake Tahoe, and saving fish and shrimp tacos,” states Amanda Adams, president of the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce and a Core Planning Team partner.

“The City of South Lake Tahoe matched a very generous local donation of $100,000 and now the first loan is in the City of South Lake Tahoe, which is fitting. On behalf of all the Core Planning Team members, we thank the Council for their leadership in this crisis,” said CEO of Tahoe Prosperity Center Heidi Hill Drum who is also a Core Planning Team partner.

About the Resilience Fund - Tahoe

The Resilience Fund – Tahoe is an expansion of the successful Resilience Fund – Sierra started in Truckee and North Lake Tahoe by the Sierra Business Council. They have already funded more than 20 loans, helping 12 businesses reopen and saving more than 120 local jobs.

Funds in this revolving loan program continually help local businesses. They can apply for loans between $5,000 and $25,000 with favorable terms (5-year repayment at 2% interest) and can use the funds to restock their restaurant pantry after a long closure, hire back employees to begin to reopen, or purchase needed items to ensure social distancing and continued revenue generation. The Resilience Fund-Tahoe is initially designed to help businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19 forced closures. On the other side of the current economic crisis, the fund will serve as permanent loan infrastructure for the small business community with fewer restrictions to help them grow, expand and thrive. In the last 3 months, the Tahoe Truckee region raised more than $1 million for the Resilience Fund – Sierra and each fund has a goal of raising $5 million to ensure ongoing local support for local businesses.

A core feature of the Resilience Fund-Tahoe is that businesses receive free technical assistance from the SBDC that can improve business models and systems to leverage productivity during suspended operations. Businesses will receive the counseling they need to carefully plan operating cash flow, giving them the best chance of long-term success.

Donations or investments can be made directly to the Resilience Fund-Tahoe and are tax-deductible. Donors will receive tax information from the Sierra Business Council, a 501c3 private nonprofit organization. Core Planning Team partners include MOBO Law, South Tahoe Chamber, Tahoe Chamber, South Lake Tahoe Tourism District, Tahoe Prosperity Center and Sierra Business Council.

For more information, visit https://resiliencefund.org/.