A grant program created to help support small businesses and nonprofits in the Greater Lehigh Valley area that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis has raised $300,000 to date.

The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with BB&T, now Truist, along with business leaders Tom Groves and David Jaindl, late last month began a pool of $150,000 to support businesses struck by the coronavirus pandemic.

Frank Facchiano, COO, GLVCC, noted eligibility for the Chamber’s COVID-19 Relief Fund was open to the Chamber’s entire footprint, which includes Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania, along with Warren County, N.J.

“Those folks were eligible to apply,” Facchiano said. “I thought it was an excellent program and process but not perfect, certainly.”

In the first round of funding, 100 businesses received $1,500. Of that, $50,000 came from BB&T, $50,000 from GLVCC, $25,000 from Jaindl and $25,000 from Equinox Benefits Consulting.

“We’re hearing from businesses and nonprofits on every Main Street that they’re trying to hang in and hang on,” Chamber CEO and President Tony Iannelli said in a news release. “We’re all in this together and have been dealt a real economic blow, but we’re on our feet and fighting back.”

The process is simple and designed to deliver support to those who need it right away.

“Main Street small businesses are literally the backbone of the American economy,” Groves said. “When they were asked by Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey to shut down, as patriotic American citizens, they did it, without question, to save lives. Now, it’s our turn to save them.”

“It is in times like these where we rally around each other as a community. BB&T, now Truist, is proud to partner with the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce to help our neighbors through this time,” Travis Rhodes, Truist region president, Delaware/Lehigh Valley said. “What better way to live out our purpose of inspiring and building better lives and communities?”

The second round of funding - for which checks were being signed April 20 - will see 150 businesses receive $1,000. In that phase, $50,000 came from BB&T, $50,000 came from GLVCC, $25,000 came from Jaindl and the rest came from new partners in the form of Walmart/Sam’s Club Foundation, along with Dynegy community affairs.

“During this time, Dynegy is not only committed to providing affordable reliable power for our residential, small- and large-business customers in Pennsylvania, but we’re also dedicated to helping through efforts such as the Chamber’s COVID-19 Relief Fund,” Brad Watson, director of Dynegy community affairs said. “We’re proud to serve the Greater Lehigh Valley area and do our part to support communities and businesses to get them through this great challenge, so they can thrive once again.”

Facchiano said the grant program is intended to help with paying rent, making payroll or other operating expenses.

“We’ll get what we can get together for phase three,” he said. “They’re (unrestricted) grants; there’s no strings attached to this.”

Some of the businesses have been closed for weeks, with no money coming in, while others are sole proprietors and don’t have other income or means to take care of their families.

“We want and need them to be there when we all go back to work,” Iannelli said. “These businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. They are good people - volunteer firefighters, soccer coaches and good neighbors - and we want to do what we can to support them.”

“We feel it’s our current mission to let our businesses know what they need to do if they are, in fact, closed,” Facchiano added. “They have to have masks. They have to have gloves and sanitizer.

“It’s going to be a different world,” he said, “and we want to make it as understandable as possible.”