Clifton Cares: Buy a meal for a hospital worker from a local restaurant

Greater Cincinnati is blessed with exceptional hospitals and health care professionals. 

Our neighborhood benefits greatly by our proximity to these institutions – and also from daily patronage by their employees.  The COVID-19 pandemic is pushing these professionals to long hours and unprecedented levels of stress as they answer the call of duty. At the same time, they are exposing themselves and their families to the danger of this new little-known virus.

Our restaurants contribute enormously to our quality of life, and they also find themselves in a perilous situation.  Dining-in seating and service are not permitted, so to stay open, they must rely solely on curbside delivered carry-out orders.

Clifton Business Association (CBA) is launching a fundraising initiative called “Clifton Cares.”  

Your tax-exempt contributions can be made to a fund managed by CBA.  Any healthcare professional can call in an order for a carry-out lunch or dinner from the menus of participating restaurants, then follow with pickup of the order in front of the restaurant, including Dusmesh, The Whole Bowl, Habanero’s, Proud Rooster, Sitwells Act II, Biagio’s Bistro, Marrakech and Gaslight Bar & Grill. 

The goal of our fundraising effort is to provide 500 meals, priced from $5 – $20 per meal.  This offer will be promoted throughout our local healthcare facilities. CBA will track the sales at participating restaurants weekly and funnel community sponsorship to them in measure of their sales.  This relief food initiative will last as long as our fundraising allows.

To contribute to this CBA “Clifton Cares” initiative, click on QR Code or go to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=JL474S5UQUNVG&source=url .  

Thanks for supporting our healthcare workers!

Message from the Cincinnati Zoo: Planting for Pollinators Challenge

The Cincinnati Zoo is still challenging everyone to cultivate “Plants for Pollinators,” and asking for feedback on what the Zoo can do to support you during the coronavirus crisis. See below for a message from the Zoo.

Send CTM your feedback, and we will pass it to the Zoo!

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The good news – spring is officially here! Flowers are popping up everywhere and our pollinator friends are getting busy.

The bad news – well, you already know the bad news. How will COVID-19 impact the Plant for Pollinators Challenge? Very few garden registrations have come in over the past few weeks when we would have normally expected them to start ramping up in March. Understandably, we all have more pressing issues on the top of our minds; planting and registering a pollinator garden is not likely to be a priority.

On the other hand, people have been ordered to stay home. They need fresh air and exercise. They need a break from the 24-hour news cycle and social media feeds. Their children need hands-on, real-world learning opportunities. And our pollinators still need their help. Gardening is a great way to recharge, find hope, and regain some sense of control while making a positive difference.

While all of our in-person promotional events and opportunities are on hold for the moment, how can we continue to reach out to the Greater Cincinnati community with our message of planting for pollinators? Social media, for sure. Perhaps we can do more through radio and tv. What about hosting virtual workshops or presentations for your audiences? How can we support you in such efforts?

For those of you who run garden centers and nurseries, what do the stay-at-home orders mean for you? Are you closing or are you considered essential services like the home improvement stores? How do you expect this to impact your business and what can we do to help? Can we still encourage people to patronize your businesses?

And if people are not able to purchase new plants in the upcoming months, what else can we encourage them to do in their yards to support pollinators?

I’d love to know more about how this COVID-19 crisis is impacting you and your organizations, and really want to hear your thoughts and ideas on how we continue to serve both our human and pollinator communities during this time. Above all, I hope you and yours are all staying safe and healthy.

State of Ohio Stay at Home Order & Resources for Small Businesses

Here is Ohio’s Stay at Home order, which will be in effect starting at 11:59pm on Monday, 3/23.

Please note that folks are allowed to go out for essential activities, such as to buy groceries and medicine, to care for relatives, to perform essential jobs, and to purchase carry out food from restaurants.

Click here to read the order.

Because this order will impact our many small businesses in Clifton, we are also sharing the Small Business Association’s Fact Sheet on emergency loans for small businesses available during the Coronavirus crisis.