What you don’t know can hurt you.
In recent years, Sandy, Irene, Isabelle, blizzards, storms, floods, fires, power outages and a derecho have all shut down local businesses. Some well-prepared businesses remained open and continued delivering services, or reopened quickly with minimal disruption. But many businesses that did not have emergency plans in place before the disaster did not fair as well. Unprepared, some businesses were blindsided by unanticipated problems and struggled to reopen, maintain customer service, manage staff, process payments, restock inventory or maintain other vital business functions. Making matters worse — some of the firms that suffered significant financial losses were not aware of the documentation required to qualify for disaster funding from the state or federal government and were unable to receive compensation for their losses.
To help local businesses and organizations plan for the next disaster, the Upper Eastern Shore Chapter of SCORE is holding a free emergency preparedness workshop on October 2, 7-9 PM, at the Kent County Public Library. Emergency planning personnel from Kent, Queen Anne’s’ and Cecil counties will describe the challenges they’ve encountered in recent emergencies and explain how businesses can prepare for future calamities. They’ll also identify local emergency resources in each area and provide contact information for county, state and federal emergency management services. In addition, they’ll provide emergency preparedness checklists that businesses can use to make sure that they’re not forgetting something important.
Speakers will include Kristin McMenamin, Kent County Emergency Preparedness Planner; Jim Bass, Queen Anne’s County Emergency Planning Associate; and Mark Sweitzer, Cecil County Emergency Preparedness Planner. The workshop is open to the public and free of charge.
SCORE is a national, nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small businesses to get started, grow, and succeed. Local SCORE members serve as volunteer mentors to small business owners and help them structure business plans, secure funding, and develop effective business procedures that help to ensure their success. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and has been mentoring small business owners for more than forty years.
The volunteer business mentors of SCORE are committed to helping local businesses thrive — even in the most challenging conditions.
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