Los Angeles (CBSLA) – Whereas many native companies have weathered the pandemic, some nonetheless need assistance to remain afloat, and now an area nonprofit has stepped up gifting away tens of 1000’s of {dollars} in grants to maintain the lights and workers on the payroll.
“We’re micro organism breeders. So we promote kits and cultures which you could make your self at residence. Kombucha is fermented tea. It is candy tea. So we use sugar. The tea and sugar are then damaged down by the micro organism and yeast, ”says Hannah Crum, who calls herself the“ Kombucha Mama ”.
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Hannah “Kombucha Mama” Crum runs Kombucha Kamp, a small store in Val Gardena that sells cultures and kits for making your personal tea. (Credit score: CBS)
Crum owns and operates Kombucha Kamp, a small firm in Val Gardena that ships merchandise throughout the nation and the place guests can style a sip of the probiotic well being drink.
“Folks love kombucha as a result of it improves digestion. It provides them vitality and simply makes them really feel good, ”mentioned Crum.
Nevertheless, when the pandemic hit, like many different small companies, Crum struggled to remain open.
That is the place the Los Angeles County Financial Improvement Company (LAEDC) is situated, a nonprofit made up of private and non-private partnerships to assist companies develop and overcome challenges.
“We had been so grateful to obtain this scholarship,” mentioned Crum, who acquired a $ 15,000 scholarship this summer season.
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The cash helped her firm cowl payroll and hold her staff on the job.
“A whole lot of small companies are simply making an attempt to outlive. You do not have time to undergo this info, so when Hannah referred to as us, we had been capable of attain our technical crew for enterprise help and sit down along with her and provides her the knowledge she wanted. We’re glad she’s high-quality, ”mentioned Stephen Cheung, who heads LAEDC.
Cheung mentioned that Crum’s enterprise is likely one of the 1000’s they’ve been capable of assist, including that they’re bundling assets in a single place and that the assistance is on the market.
“Ninety-three % of all of our LA County firms even have fewer than 20 staff. So lots of them have particular wants and over the previous 12 months and a half we’ve expanded our direct technical help to small companies to make sure they discover the suitable assets to assist them recuperate and survive the pandemic, “Cheung mentioned .
For her half, Crum mentioned there was some preliminary pleasure in the course of the pandemic about making the fermented tea at residence, though their sale is now not the place it was once.
“So we’re actually grateful that this grant was there to assist us by this tough time,” mentioned Crum.
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Any LA County enterprise can apply for assist at no cost. Additional info may be discovered on the LAEDC web site, linked right here.
