Mayor's Minute: May 2020

Mountain Brook is a city united.

As the COVID-19 pandemic moved across the world it felt like an episode of “The Twilight Zone” ... surreal. I dare say none of us has experienced anything like this crisis. It’s been so fast moving that our responses and strategies have evolved rapidly from, literally, day-to-day.

I am very proud of how our residents, business owners, city leaders and city employees have responded to this crisis. Everyone has had their lives disrupted, some in extreme ways, yet everyone has reached out to help others in many ways.

One unique collaboration occurred between our city leaders, chamber leaders, private enterprise and our residents. “One Mountain Brook” became the theme for our community’s efforts to help some of our most vulnerable local businesses ... our restaurants (Phase I). Money was raised to give to restaurant owners specifically to-go to their wait staff and kitchen staff with the goal of helping them save their jobs.

As I write this at the end of March, over $60,000 has been given directly to our local restaurant owners for this cause. Many of our restaurants and their wait staff have been around for years. These are people we know; they are friends of ours. How blessed we are in this community to be able to reach out and help our friends just when they need it most.

Mountain Brook Chamber launched Phase II with a $10,000 donation to support our small businesses located in our city. Our goal is to challenge every household in Mountain Brook to donate a minimum of $100 to support our merchants.

For information about how you can help, visit onemb.swell.gives.