Another Day, Another Grant - I'm Very Lucky!

Another day, another set of legal documents and hopes for a brighter future. In other words, more money to keep the store alive through this year, and I'm very grateful we got lucky a second time. Earlier this year (not all that long ago, actually), we got lucky and were one of the businesses randomly selected to receive $10,000 County Grants to help small businesses through the COVID time ahead. We gratefully accepted that and thought that was the end of it. 

We're doing the Happy Dance once again. We were randomly
selected to receive a State Grant and we desperately need
those funds to keep our doors open for our customers. 

But at the same time as the county grant application was available, there was also a State Grant made available for application, and they were requesting almost identical paperwork. So, when I filled out the one, I went ahead and also filled out the other. It was a bit confusing, because two grants so similar in construct were out in cyberspace at the same time. 

Best thing about doing the happy dance? We're not
only happy, we're getting a good workout at the same
time - LOL. 

Two weeks ago I received a follow-up from the State Grant, requesting two small items of documentation, and within a week, I received news that we had been approved. I actually sat on it for almost a week, double-checking to make sure it was a separate grant, not the County Grant we had already accepted and used. But no, it was separate. DH read it through last night and approved it, so I sent the final signed documents out to the State this morning and hopefully, by the end of next week, the grant money will be in our account. 

Color Coding expenses can be an easy way to isolate them,
but I suspect DH will just do everything in pencil with
separate spreadsheets for each loan/grant. I don't care how
he gets it done, as long as we have documentation on
hand if we need to submit anything. 

DH says we'll need to make a spreadsheet of what expenses are being paid with which loan or grant. We do have to be able to document where the funds were used and that they were used for the proper items, and with three different funding sources, we have to keep things straight. DH is old-school, too. It might be easier to do such a thing in Xcel with color coding, but I'm pretty sure he'll be doing it with pencil on ledger paper. 

I do remind myself now and again that I am NOT a
special snowflake. I'm just one of millions of people
on this earth with talents of my own, but I'm in the
pack, not leading it. That's OK. 

So, it's a bit of a relief for me today - a bit more money to help us push through this year and into next. Originally we had been thinking about retiring this year. COVID made that impossible for us to do properly, so we've had to push things out another year or so. It doesn't make me happy, but it's not a tragedy. We're all affected by the Pandemic, in so many ways. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm really NOT a Special Snowflake. On that note, have a wonderful Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. Please - be safe, stay well and wear your mask!