Like so many other businesses in the Tri-state region, The Lakeville Journal Company applied for a federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, or, hopefully, grant. Like some, but not all, that applied, this company was approved to receive money from the program. For that, we are extremely grateful, as we have continued operating during the pandemic restrictions, publishing The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News every week.
Even with the membership model we began in November of 2019, the immediate drop in advertising in the first weeks and now months of the coronavirus effects created a situation for our company that can only be described as critical once again. Without the success of the membership drive then and since, we would not have survived through this time. With the support of the PPP program, we can now see a path to stability once again.
Through all this, our goal has been to keep our communities informed of critical information related to COVID-19 and, yes, other important topics. Many of our readers’ lives have been turned upside down and become much more difficult than before the coronavirus struck humanity. We want to offer them some stability and accurate reporting on their local news during this time. We will keep at that as well and as long as we can.
This pandemic has not run its course, not without a cure or a vaccine available. The balancing act of reopening our society while protecting the health of those who comprise it will continue to be a struggle going through the remainder of 2020, and no doubt beyond. Now, the challenge for all the small businesses that receive funding through the PPP program is to understand what the guidelines will be to have the major part of the loans forgiven. Otherwise, going through the greatest economic and health challenges in the lives of most who are alive today will present a monumental, overwhelming and insurmountable threat to maintaining a viable local, statewide and national economy as our individual states begin to take steps to reopen.
