Mayor's Minute: July 2020

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In these unprecedented times, I am constantly being asked, “How can I help?” Here are the two best ways you can help our city:

► Support our local businesses.

  • Many of our local mom-and-pop retailers and restaurant owners have experienced extreme financial hardship as a result of shelter-in-place orders from our state health director and governor. Many of these people live in our community. We’ve known them for years. They are our friends. We are asking you, our residents, to help them stage a comeback by making a tax-deductible online donation to onemb.swell.gives.

► Take the Mayor’s Challenge.

  • If you will donate $1,000, a private foundation will match your donation with $1,000 for the first 40 donors. For mail-in donations, make your check payable to Mtn. Brook Merchant Emergency Relief Fund and mail it to: 101 Hoyt Lane, Mountain Brook, AL 35213.

Mountain Brook residents have a long history of philanthropy. $60,000 in donations was distributed in April to local restaurant owners specifically for payments to their wait staff and kitchen staff. Please join your fellow residents in supporting our local businesses.

► Help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Gov. Kay Ivey allowed most businesses to open, with restrictions, in late May. While this is needed for our business owners and local economy, we all need to do our part to make this next phase a success. At the risk of repeating myself, here are three things you can do to help reduce the spread of COVID-19:

  • Observe social distancing. I suspect the heat and humidity of summer may slow the spread of COVID-19, but it is still out there, and the single best defense is social distancing — maintaining 6 feet of separation between you and non-family members.
  • Wear a face covering. The most current research indicates that the virus is most often transmitted through exhaling and inhaling viral droplets and that wearing a face covering can reduce the likelihood of infecting others or becoming infected by 75-80%.
  • Sanitize your hands often. Try to keep hand sanitizer with you and use before entering and after leaving local establishments.

By each doing our small part, we can make a big difference.