Liberty’s Downtown Employee Assistance Program
In partnership with Liberty’s Restaurant and Lounge, Downtown Main Street Red Wing is pleased to announce a Partner benefit. The Liberty’s Employee Assistance Fund is a grant program that will support the employees of local businesses in times of hardship.
Downtown Main Street Red Wing, in partnership with LIberty’s Restaurant and Lounge, is pleased to announce a new Partner benefit. The Liberty’s Employee Assistance Fund is a grant program that will support the employees of local businesses in times of hardship.
Please read this message from Doug Noreen, Owner of LIberty’s Restaurant and Lounge:
Dear Community Members,
I will never forget the evening of September 2nd, 2020. The night a car crashed into Liberty’s, causing an unbelievable amount of damage to our beautiful & historic building. It was a scary and overwhelming time, and we can’t thank the community enough for coming together to help us by donating money to help us recover. Your kindness helped us pay for things like lost income for our employees and hotels for our tenants.
After repairs and renovations were completed, we had more money than we needed. We worked with Downtown Main Street to find a way to utilize these donated funds in an appropriate manner. We decided to create the Liberty's Employee Assistance Fund.
This fund will support employees of downtown businesses who are experiencing hardships such as unforeseen medical, transportation, housing, or family care expenses.
I hope these funds provide a safety net to avoid a financial hardship that could jeopardize an employee's ability to remain employed with a local business. Having experienced the kind support of this community in our time of need, we know how much it can mean to someone in a difficult situation. We will work with a core group of advisors to allocate the funds, capping the dollar amount to ensure that the money is distributed among many but still will do good. We also will set aside a larger dollar amount to help a business owner that may find themselves in a crisis as we did.
We want to support other businesses and their employees because they are important to our community and to us. We hope our donors feel this is a good way to utilize their donated money.
Your donations to Liberty's were a true testament to our community's kindness and generosity; for that, I am incredibly humbled and grateful.
Sincerely,
Doug Noreen
Details of the Program
Who is eligible to apply?
The business owners of any Downtown Main Street Partner can submit a grant application on behalf of their employee.
What financial hardships are eligible for submission?
Here are some examples of eligible expenses:
Transportation
Healthcare expenses
Housing
Family Care (child, elder, etc.)
What is the maximum amount that can be requested?
$500 is the maximum amount per application
Is there a deadline to apply?
Applications can be submitted at any time. This grant program will be available until funds have been exhausted.
When and how will the funds be dispersed?
The application will be reviewed, and a determination will be communicated to the applicant within seven business days from the date of receipt. An advisory committee will review the application. Fund disbursements for approved applications will be made directly to the employee in the form of a check up to two weeks after approval. The name of the person receiving the grant will only be obtained for approved applications.
Where do you apply?
The owner of the business where the employee works should complete the online form here:
If you have questions about the program, please email info@downtownredwing.org