BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – A local business was selected by Sam’s Club to receive a $10,000 small business grant.
As part of an initiative to help small businesses across the county, Sam’s Club is offering up to $1,000,000 in grants.
The program was just launched and so far only a few businesses have been selected for grants, one of them being A & J catering in Beckley. Owners of the company Andee and Jenny McGhee say the grant has been life changing.
“We were extremely surprised when he said that Sam’s Club decided to give us this. It was life changing and it might’ve saved our business,” they said.
Sam’s Club heard about their business because a few months ago they worked with them to advertise for the very same small business initiative. When Sam’s Club found out that the McGhees had been struggling, they stepped in to help.
“We did a video for Sam’s Club to promote their business so far as launching a new initiative for small businesses. As soon as COVID-19 started, they asked us if we would do an interview.”
A & J Catering has been struggling because their kitchen has been under construction for months now, and ever since the pandemic started, it’s been difficult to get business and have enough funding to finish construction.
Jenny says that they plan on using the money from Sam’s Club to finish construction, keep their employees and grow their business.
“We want to use that for our kitchen. It’s gonna help us with payroll, it’s gonna help us with food costs at the beginning. It’s gonna help us with a lot of things to be able to start our business.”
The Sam’s Club initiative to help small businesses has so far been very selective, with only four businesses being selected for $10,000 grants.
Any small business can apply for a grant from Sam’s Club, with the only requirements being that the business has immediate needs that the grant will help pay for.
