GoFundMe pages used to keep struggling small businesses alive

COLLEGE PARK, Fla. - Small businesses struggling to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic are getting assistance. For some of them, that means cash from customers. For others, it means keeping the lights on. 

Some customers are even using GoFundMe pages to help raise money to keep their favorite small businesses afloat. Some think this could be the new normal if small businesses have any hope of surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.

This happened with College Park Yoga, which was on the verge of closing its doors in March. A customer started a GoFundMe page that raised over $24,000 for the business.

"I couldn't think of this studio not being here in March, Jessica Reupert, a College Park Yoga student told FOX 35. She helped organize the GoFundMe page for the studio, which has been a staple in the community for 20 years. 

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The studio is now almost always empty and on the verge of closing.

"75 percent of my business is gone, like gone. I don't have it," College Park Yoga Co-Owner Theresa Curameng said. She added that it has been this way for nine months and that they are trying to reinvent themselves with online classes and merchandise but it is not helping much. 

"Everyone says, have you done government funding -- mmhmm. But it got us through the two months we were closed but what about the nine months of no one showing up," Curameng explained. She knows other small businesses are hurting too and she is grateful beyond words for her students' generosity.

Curameng believes that GoFundMe pages could become the new normal for small businesses trying to survive. However, she said that "I don't think it's the small business that's going to be the one that does it. I think it's going to be one of their customers that says, 'I need you,' 'I love your food,' 'I need you.'"

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Reupert is cautioning people to not take their favorite small businesses for granted. She encourages you to shop at your favorite local store and eat at your favorite restaurant.

College Park Yoga said that they are grateful for the donations they have received so far and it will help them get through May. By then, they hope things will start to turn around.

Tune in to FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.