$2M boosts disaster relief fund
Cash from Lawrence-area banks to help businesses in gas blast aftermath
A fund meant to give businesses in the Merrimack Valley emergency resources to withstand the lengthy disruption from the gas fires last month will get another $2 million, with Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera urging other banks with strong local ties to also help out.
Rivera, Gov. Charlie Baker, and other local and state officials said the business loan fund, which had been seeded with $1 million last month, will see double that thanks to 15 banks.
But, Rivera said, Bank of America, which he said serves Lawrence, is missing in action.
Late yesterday, Santander, which Rivera said has the largest market share of any bank in the city, said it will pitch in.
A Santander spokeswoman said the bank had been unable to meet the fund’s deadline but will now add $100,000 to the fund.
“We’re committed to supporting the communities where we live and work and have a long history of doing so, including in the Lawrence community. We were asked to respond to the loan program request in a very short time frame and, unfortunately, we weren’t able to meet that deadline,” said Nancy Orlando, a Santander spokeswoman.
“We’re happy to share that we’re committing $100,000 to this new effort, which is in addition to the $100,000 we previously donated to the Essex County Community Foundation’s Greater Lawrence Disaster Relief Fund in the immediate aftermath of these tragic fires and explosions,” she added.
Bank of America did not respond to a request for comment.
The fund is meant to help businesses weather the financial impacts from the gas outage that has kept many establishments closed since last month.
“One of the biggest problems these folks face is coming up with mechanisms and capital that makes it possible for them to hold on to key employees, to be able to make the investments they need to make to get started and basically to pay for the interrupted services that are associated with all this,” Baker said inside Yella, a Mediterranean restaurant in Andover.
He added: “The fact that they're open is how they succeed, it's how they pay their staff, it's how they pay their rent, it's how they pay their health insurance and that's why business interruption support is so important for these enterprises.”