FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth's Near Southside is a neighborhood full of independent businesses – the kind that brings character to a community.
But those business and the people who work for them have had their worlds turned upside down.
"I felt like we were just hitting our stride," said salon co-owner and hairstylist Taylor McChesnee Caster. Her business, South Main District Salon in the Near Southside, is in its second year. Then, the pandemic hit.
They closed March 19.
"I feel like everyone was at the end of their rope with whatever little money they had left," she said of her fellow hairstylists.
Over at Kent & Co., a wine bar and retail shop on Magnolia Avenue, owner Marty Englander was hearing those concerns.
"We wanted to figure out a way to potentially give back, and we came up with an idea," Englander said.
He and his wife founded a new grassroots fund called Southside C.A.R.E.S.
The CARES stands for culinary, arts, retail, entertainment and service, and the fund provides grants to people who work in those areas specifically in the Near Southside.
"We believe giving is more contagious than this disease," Englander said Thursday.
He and his wife started the foundation with $10,000 and since then, the fund has blossomed to more than $65,000, filled with donations of all sizes. The money has allowed them to send checks to hundreds of individuals.
But currently, requests outnumber donations and there's now a waiting list.
That's where Fort Worth native Leon Bridges comes in.
At 8 p.m. Thursday, the Grammy-award winner is playing a free online concert to help raise funds for the neighborhood he spends so much time in.
Englander has come to know Bridges through Kent & Co.
"I asked Leon, 'Hey if we were to do a deal to create a fund to raise money for the neighborhood, and do an online show, would you participate?' He didn't blink. He said yes immediately," Englander said.
To access the concert: bit.ly/leoncares.
Tracey Pathammavong, owner of Four Sisters, a Vietnamese restaurant on South Main, said he helped his entire restaurant staff apply for the grants, from dishwashers to servers.
“Everybody is struggling," he said. “It’s been really helpful for them."
McChesnee Caster says the efforts, as well as the grant she and others have received, are appreciated.
"That's paying your electricity bill that maybe was going to get cut off, you know," she said.
And to know their neighborhood is looking out for them: priceless.
To learn more, to donate or to apply, go to wegetbytogether.com.
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