BAMBERG, S.C. — There is new help for those South Carolinians impacted by the tornadoes on January 9th. The U.S. Small Business Administration announced South Carolina businesses and residents are now eligible for disaster loans.
Two months after a EF-2 tornado hit downtown Bamberg, the community is still recovering.
Shannon Boyd is a Bamberg resident who says many were deeply affected by the disaster.
“I actually knew some people that were affected by this tornado, just besides us, and they have really had to rally themselves without that governmental help to build back everything that they lost,” said Boyd. “And so I think that it would be really important if they did have some additional help.”
Now, the U.S Small Business Administration has opened a disaster loan outreach center to provide assistance for businesses, homeowners, renters and nonprofits.
Bamberg city council member Corey Ramsey says this will help many in the community.
“You have a lot of low income individuals in this area,” said Ramsey. “You also have businesses that have also come through the pandemic and so they were already kind of behind the eight ball if you will.”
John Frederick is a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Small Business Administration. He says there will be assistance on site to help with the application process.
“Well, we know that you may have been impacted so if you just have your basic information, we will formulate the application for you," Frederick said. "So, don’t worry about if you have paperwork right now or if you don’t have paperwork right now, we have customer service reps that will help you get the application done.”
Ramsey says this low interest disaster assistance program is ideal for those in a hard spot.
“Going the extra mile is what we need in this community right now,” Ramsey said. “It is very very opportunistic that they don’t have to pay anything back to these loans for at least a year and there will be no interest accrued to those loans in that 12 month radius.”
The Disaster Loan Outreach Center at 1234 North Street, Bamburg, SC 29003 will close on April 10th at 4pm.