The COVID-19 virus has caused unprecedented actions throughout the country including the closure of all non-essential businesses and a stay-at-home order for those in Illinois. Though the measures have made many local workers temporarily unemployed, a surge of crowdfunding pages have hit the internet to help support them during the time.

So far, over 20 different Edgewater and Andersonville businesses have started gofundme.com campaigns to help employees during the shut-down. Almost all of the pages currently on the crowdfunding source benefit unemployed staff at local restaurants, cafes, and bars.

After the Edgewater cafe Helix (6237 N Clark) started the first local coronavirus-related crowdfunding campaign nearly two weeks ago, they have hit almost half of the $10K goal. Other local businesses soon followed suit to help out their staff during the state-imposed shut down including six in just the last day. The Andersonville Italian eatery Anteprima (5316 N Clark) has raised the most so far with nearly $6K of their $25K goal since first taking flight five days ago.

Robert Jeffrey Salon at 5142 N Clark, whose stylists started their campaign less than a day ago stressed the negative impact that a long closure could have on their business.

“We are not corporate chain salon and do not have that corporate backing and four-eight weeks with no income can be detrimental to our salon,” said Robert Jeffrey Salon’s Richard Pilcher. “During this time as a small business, the financial hardship we will experience with our doors closed could potentially be devastating as the timeline is unclear. This will support us in ensuring the salon will re-open once we are able.”

The staff at Kopi Cafe (5317 N Clark ) said that the money donated to their page will be withdrawn from gofundme.com weekly and divided up between them. They set their goal at $35K in order to help cover two months of basic living expenses such as rent, food, utilities for all 18 employees.

“Kopi staff (servers, baristas, dishwashers, cooks and managers) are unemployed indefinitely due to the virus and many of us do not have any other source of income,” said Kopi Cafe’s Aiden Kent. “All funds raised will go directly to my fellow staff members as our livelihood is entirely dependent upon our customers. Any level of support is much appreciated and every dollar helps.”

If you would like to help out multiple restaurants with your donation, a crowdfunding campaign was also created to provide general aid to unemployed staff at Andersonville restaurants. The Andersonville Chamber of Commerce will handle the disbursement of funds and allocate it to neighborhood restaurants.

It is to note that many restaurants and cafes remain open with carry-out and to-go options only. Please consult their websites as many of them have updated hours during the shut down. If we have missed your crowdfunding campaign, let us know in the comments section below.

Here is a list of current GoFundMe.com campaigns that support local employees:

Helix

Robert Jeffrey Andersonville

Kopi Cafe

Anteprima

La Colombe Andersonville

Salon Echo

Edgewater Tacos

Uncommon Ground

Farm House & Farm Bar

Nookies Edgewater

Forever Yogurt Andersonville

Replay And Elixir Andersonville

The Call Bar

Andies

Ridman’s Coffee

Oda Mediterranean

M Henry

Orangetheory Edgewater

First Slice Cafe