Effects of coronavirus hit Puyallup’s Step By Step and Farm 12 in form of layoffs
A Puyallup restaurant run by a nonprofit for low-income and underprivileged women has had to lay off staff to survive the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Six women were laid off, said Krista Linden, executive director of Step By Step and Farm 12. The women were not working enough hours to collect unemployment.
“We can’t give everyone a sustainable living wage. Our workforce and revenue are shrinking,” Linden said.
Step By Step applied for the Paycheck Protection Program through Columbia Bank but did not receive the loan. The program offers companies and nonprofits with up to 500 workers a low-interest loan for up to two months’ payroll. Most, if not all, of the loan will be forgiven if the employer keeps workers and doesn’t cut wages.
So many organizations applied, the funding dried up. Columbia Bank previously told The News Tribune that within 36 hours of launching the program, the bank received more loan requests than typically seen over the course of six to eight months.
In the fourth spending bill passed by Congress, legislators added $310 billion to replenish the program.
Linden said the nonprofit will apply again, but she isn’t sure if she will be able to bring back those who have been let go. The loan would sustain the organization for eight weeks, but if the pandemic continues, Linden said she doesn’t know what will happen.
“There are so many unknowns right now,” Linden said.
She kept her promise to the 60 employees: averaging out the salaries to provide a base salary to all for the first six weeks of the pandemic.
Many people have chosen to help clients themselves.
Several have handed over their stimulus check to Linden, who splits the $1,200 between two clients immediately. One partner in Seattle, Catalyst, received a $15 million donation and shared $4,000 with Step By Step. Eight clients were given $500.
The Germaine Korum Center banquet hall has become a mask-making shop and a food bank for clients who need supplies and basic necessities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Linden said thousands of clients who have gone through the pregnancy and parenting programs have reached out to the nonprofit for help again.
“I don’t want anybody to slip through the cracks,” she said.
