Building an effective grassroots movement isn’t too different from building a successful neighborhood restaurant.
First off, it’s hard. Very hard.
It requires an extraordinary amount of perseverance and commitment. And an unusual, almost superhuman ability to pick yourself up — every single day — and do it all over again. No matter how hard it gets.
And it requires a team. Where every person’s voice, role, and function is not only crucial, but equally respected, required, and important. From chefs and sommeliers to line cooks, servers, food runners, and everyone in between. If even one team member is missing from the lineup or overlooked, any restaurant — or movement — will unravel.
We’ve built this national movement the same way we’ve built our neighborhood restaurants — with dedication to our communities and a commitment to each other. Because we know that if one of us is left out, all of us are left out.
That’s why this week, nearly 25,000 of you joined us in calling on Congress to do more, and to take urgent action to ensure we’re able to reopen our restaurants and rebuild our communities when this crisis is over.
There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. But when 25,000 people speak, you can rest assured their voices are being heard.
On Capitol Hill, negotiations are expected to continue over the weekend and into early next week between the Republicans and Democrats on how to move forward on additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As reported earlier this week, the Democrats have offered a proposal to provide $185 billion towards bolstering the PPP while Republicans want to add $250 billion. The Democrats have also offered changes to PPP that would increase the maximum loan amount from 10 weeks of payroll to 12 weeks.
We continue to see support for our request to Congress and are hopeful next week we’ll see legislation that includes our proposals. We’re still collecting signatures on our letter to Congress, so please add your name and share it with your network to join us in making our voices heard.
There’s still a lot of work ahead. And we need your help to do it. Continue fighting with us, and we won’t let you down.
Cheers and have a happy Easter,
Angela
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Angela M. Kouters Executive Director Independent Restaurant Coalition www.SaveRestaurants.com
