As the Northwoods begins what could be a months-long battle against the coronavirus, the Rhinelander Area Chamber of Commerce has given some tips for the public to help local businesses.
Chamber Executive Director Lauren Sackett says they're put together some ideas to help...
"Now is a great time to buy gift cards from your local retailers and restaurants to use later. You can call a retailer to do something over the phone for future pickup. One thing that's important is if you hold memberships or subscriptions like a gym membership, you need to pay those. Those organizations really do rely on those to operate..."
She says with the new restrictions on gathering, many local restaurants are offering more food as takeout and to go meals including delivery. Sackett says they're compiling the restaurants offering those types of meals and will have them up on the Rhinelander Chamber website soon. She says tip servers and delivery people extra, if possible...
"We're trying to get through this as a community so we're really hoping that if you know a local business owner or another person in the community, ask them how they are doing, how you can help. It's very important..."
Sackett says businesses have small staffs and have small margins so anything the public can do to help will make a big difference.
She says they've also begun a "Local Support Bingo Game" on their Facebook page that she says is a fun way to help the local community.
