GALAX, Va – Senator Tim Kaine made several stops in Southwest Virginia to talk to small business owners about the impacts of COVID-19 over the past year.
City leaders in Galax are working hard to help the city regain a sense of normalcy for the first time in over a year.
Kaine met with city officials and locally owned businesses to get a better understanding of how the city has been handling the pandemic.
“You know, it’s been a really hard year, maybe the hardest one ever but people have been resilient and people have been creative looked at their business maybe done some new things that they haven’t been doing before that they’ll keep going,” Virginia Senator Tim Kaine said.
Kaine also wanted to take the time to explain the newly passed American Rescue Plan which provides funding for businesses impacted by pandemic restrictions.
“We just passed this new rescue plan, then we’ll have more funds for businesses and also for the city and state and county governments and so we want to make sure people understand what resources are available and how they can use it,” Kaine said.
Galax Mayor Willie Greene says the city wants to make sure things in the city can reopen safely. He says some businesses may not be able to keep the lights on without the money from the American Rescue Plan.
“There’s the one or two, that’s probably not even open but you know the funds that we got that we use for small businesses really made a difference and it probably kept some of them in business,” Galax Mayor Willie Greene said.
Kaine is set to make several appearances in Southwest Virginia over the rest of the week.