Business Notebook: Local businesses offer community support amid COVID-19

Businesses throughout the area are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of ways, and during the outbreak, the Missourian's Business Notebook will include a roundup of some of the ways companies and their employees are responding to the health crisis.

Here are some of the coronavirus-related activities that have been reported to the Missourian:

Harbor Freight stores across the nation have donated N95 masks and other protective equipment to hospitals to help protect staff treating COVID-19 patients.Submitted

Harbor Freight, a nationwide tool and contracting equipment retailer with a store in Cape Girardeau's Town Plaza Shopping Center, announced last week it is donating its entire supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), including N95 masks, face shields and gloves, "to front line hospitals with 24 hour emergency rooms" in communities where Harbor Freight stores are located.

"As we've been following the news over the last few days, we've heard about the severe shortage of protective gear for hospitals, health care workers and first responders as the impact of COVID-19 is being felt across the country," Harbor Freight owner and founder Eric Smidt said. "America depends on these heroes every day, and in the days ahead, we will depend on them even more."

As of last week, it was unclear whether Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Hospital will receive a portion of those masks and other PPE supplies and, if so, what quantities they will receive.

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Schnuck Markets Inc. has announced it is donating $500,000 to the St. Louis COVID-19 Regional Response Fund to support those in the St. Louis region experiencing hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The company, which operates a supermarket in Cape Girardeau, is also making a $105,000 donation to support COVID-19 relief and response efforts in other areas served by the St. Louis-based company. Those funds will be split among several United Way agencies in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa.

In addition to making contributions to coronavirus relief funds, the company has also announced an effort to hire people who may be out of work due to business closures caused by COVID-19 and has hired more than 500 temporary workers.

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Premier Physical Therapy has partnered with the Southeast Missouri Food Bank to provide grocery items to families in need in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Groceries will be handed out from 2:30 until 4 p.m. Thursday in front of Premier Physical Therapy's Cape Girardeau location, 1405 N. Mount Auburn Road, and from 10 until 11:30 a.m. April 11 at its Jackson location, 2480 E. Main St.

Those coming to the food distribution events are asked to stay in their vehicles, follow traffic directions and volunteers will load groceries into the vehicles.

For more information, call (573) 722-9999.

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The SoutheastHEALTH Foundation has created a Response to Recovery Fund (RRF), which is accepting donations to support first responders and health care workers affected by coronavirus.

According to foundation president Patti Ranzini, the fund is intended to improve the health and social welfare of Southeast employees, first responders and at-risk patients by helping to meet their short- and long-term health, medical and social service needs.

The foundation has provided $10,000 of "seed money" for the fund. Donations to the fund can be made by texting "RRF2020" to 243725.

Ranzini said the foundation is partnering with area first responders, EMS, fire and rescue departments and police departments as their needs arise. She said police and fire departments in Cape Girardeau and Jackson have endorsed the fund project.

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In response to a nationwide blood shortage caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, Banterra Bank is hosting a series of blood drives in Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky and has expanded the hours of its Cape Girardeau blood drive.

The American Red Cross mobile blood unit will be available for donations from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. today at the bank's Cape Girardeau branch, 1650 N. Kingshighway. Walk-in donors are welcome.

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Cape Martial Arts, 766 S. Kingshighway, will be offering "virtual" video classes starting this week. The business also offers "at home class planners" that can be used anytime.

Cape Martial Arts will also be providing fitness interval training planners for adults that can also be used at home.

More information about these services is available by calling (573) 381-0111 or by emailing info@capemartialarts.com.

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In an effort to give people who are sheltering at home during the COVID-19 outbreak additional entertainment options, Charter Communications announced last week that for the next three weeks, it is providing Showtime and Epix premium channels at no additional charge to Spectrum TV customers who do not currently receive those channels.

"We hope that by expanding these programming options it will provide even more hours of entertainment for our customers in these challenging times," said Tom Montemagno, executive vice president of programming acquisition for Charter.

The channels will be provided at no additional charge through April 19.

Video conference downloads 'Zoom' upward due to virus

Downloads for the video conferencing and online meeting platform Zoom jumped 1,270% between Feb. 22 and March 22, according to data gathered by Learnbonds.com. The spike in downloads reportedly is due to a sizable increase in the number of people working from their homes as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Zoom application, which is available on Android and iOS platforms, had a total of 17,190,100 downloads during that period. The Android platform had 8,562,600 downloads while the iOS version had 8,627,500.

During the four-week period ending March 22, the iOS downloads increased by 595% while the Android downloads increased a whopping 2,714%.

According to the Learnbonds.com survey of Zoom downloading trends, the application's increased utilization has been driven mainly by companies and other entities that have allowed their employees to work from home and do remote video calls and other tasks. Working from home has been cited as one of the effective measures to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

Uptown Jackson relocates office

The Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization's office has moved from the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce building to 100 N. Missouri St. in Jackson inside the Jackson City Hall complex.

Although the office is temporarily closed due to the coronavirus outbreak, UJRO director Steve Turner said the organization can still be reached between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays by calling (573) 987-0624. He can also be reached by emailing director@uptownjackson.org.

People on the Move

Pam Parry

Pam Parry, chairwoman of the Department of Mass Media at Southeast Missouri State University, has been named the next history division editor of Journalism History, the journal of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

Parry teaches media history at Southeast and will serve as an apprentice under the history division's current editor starting in August before starting a three-and-a-half-year term as editor in August 2021.

Parry holds a doctoral degree in mass communications with an emphasis in media history from The University of Southern Mississippi and a master's degree in communication from American University. She also holds a bachelor's degree in journalism with an emphasis in magazine editing and writing from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

In 2009, Parry was named teacher of the year by AEJMC's Small Programs Interest Group, and in 2016, she received the Applegate Award for Excellence in Research from the Kentucky Communication Association.

Parry is a former congressional correspondent who has also covered the White House and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Commercial building permits

A commercial building permit has been issued to Rhodes Development Co., 2027 Corporate Circle in Cape Girardeau, for remodeling work that will be performed by Boulder Construction, LLC.

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