This year at W&A we’ve been celebrating our 20th anniversary by highlighting local businesses, in celebration of entrepreneurship throughout the community. We’ve established a Local Business Partnership and each month, we name a business and encourage the community to support them. In turn, we’ve been making donations of $500 to a nonprofit of the business’s choice. It’s all part of our commitment to Building Better Communities.
 
Already this year we’ve highlighted Avid Bookshop and Sheat’s Barber & Beauty Shop and their nonprofits of choice, Project Safe and the Athens Area Homeless Shelter. In March we had planned to highlight Krimson’s Kafe and the NEGA Foodbank’s program, Food 2 Kids.
 
W&A Engineering has been closely monitoring the developments related to the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. With an abundance of caution, we are postponing our March Local Business Partnership event with Krimson Kafe. During these challenging times, we encourage everyone to support THEIR FAVORITE local businesses in any way possible WHILE respecting the social gathering rules.
 
This is a time to come together…as businesses, as families, as friends, as neighborhoods, and as communities. “I have been heartened and impressed, but not surprised, by the response of our local government and leaders and by average everyday Athenians. Our local businesses and service workers need our help like never before.” Said Jon Williams
 
There are many ways you can continue to support the places where you typically shop or eat by doings things like buying gift cards, getting take out, and ordering online from locals. During this time we at W&A will be focusing on 2 main areas: feeding people in need and supporting local entrepreneurs and small businesses.
 
W&A would also like to bring attention to the COVID-19 Community Response Fund that has just been established this week by Athens Area Community Foundation to support local nonprofit organizations as they work to respond to the spread of COVID-19. The Foundation will work with local partners to deploy resources as rapidly as possible to nonprofits meeting pressing needs associated with the pandemic in our community.