Vermont’s small business owners are pivoting from business to community support as local cities, towns, and the state respond to COVID-19. 

Geoff Hatheway, owner of Londonderry’s Magic Mountain, has been donating ski goggles to health care workers, starting with a hospital in hard-hit New York, according to the Bennington Banner. 

Businesses statewide are finding ways to step up and help, as Seven Days Brand Studio and Pomerleau Real Estate show in their rolling round-up of small businesses helping local communities. 

Small businesses themselves need help too, and that’s the mission behind Love Vermont, a website that lets customers support their favorite businesses from home, whether buying gift cards or ordering take-out and delivery. 

In Brattleboro, a 48-hour “gift card challenge” brought funds to local businesses, matched by gift cards for families in need. As the Brattleboro Reformer reported, the funds came from donations from community members. Also in Brattleboro, resident Nicole Reisman, who operates Nicole’s Community Kitchen, is cooking meals for the food insecure at no charge, no questions asked. 

Signs explaining and encouraging social distancing have been popping up all over Rutland. MyNBC5 reports that Awesome Graphics of Rutland is giving away the signs, which also bear inspirational messages. 

CNN recently featured a group of Williston parents who raised extra funds for the janitorial staff who put in extra hours to clean two area schools after a staff member experienced cold-like symptoms. 

And in Essex, Shannon’s Fine Jewelry imported and donated 3,000 medical masks from Vietnam to community health care providers, according to the Essex Reporter. 

Even when struggling during the pandemic, Vermont small businesses are doing what they do best: supporting their local communities.