Through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Readiness for Resiliency program (R4R), small businesses are offered key guidance and assistance should a disaster occur. With funding and collaboration from FedEx, R4R helps businesses prepare so that the communities they serve can be resilient in the face of a disaster.
For Daneese Carter, owner of Daneese Tax and Accounting Services in Eastman, Ga., participating in the R4R program proved invaluable when Hurricane Helene struck her community.
Ann-Marie McIntosh
Vice President of Global Brand, FedEx
“Completing the R4R preparedness checklist made a huge difference in how quickly we could recover,” Carter said. “It ensured that critical business documents, client data, and essential contact lists were backed up and easily accessible, even when our physical office was affected. Because we had an emergency communication plan in place, we were able to stay connected with clients and reassure them that their information was safe. This preparation saved us valuable time and allowed us to focus on helping the community, rather than scrambling to restore our own operations.”
How it works
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s R4R program helps small businesses build resilience and better prepare for disasters. Developed in collaboration with FedEx, it’s designed to motivate small businesses to complete a disaster preparedness checklist. Once that’s done, they may register for the program and, if eligible, have a chance to receive a recovery grant should a disaster strike.
“This proactive activity may be just what small business owners need to stay in business should disaster strike,” explained Ann-Marie McIntosh, vice president of global brand at FedEx. “It also allows them to register to become eligible for a $5,000 grant in case, after a disaster, they need help making payroll, replacing merchandise, making repairs, or meeting any number of other needs until insurance or other resources become available.”
A sobering statistic
According to a study by MetLife and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 27% of small businesses say they are one disaster or threat away from shutting down their business. That’s why signing up for the R4R program is critical.
“A small business may be destroyed by a disaster,” McIntosh said. “The owner may lose their product, their customer records, their facility, and even their life if they aren’t prepared.”
McIntosh admits motivating businesses to plan for a possible emergency can be difficult.
“Many of us have an ‘it won’t happen to me’ way of thinking,” she said. “And then, unfortunately, disaster strikes.”
To ease this process, FedEx worked with the American Red Cross to create its Emergency Preparedness Checklist for small businesses. The checklist is available in both English and Spanish on the R4R website.
“Our hope is that by completing the checklist, small businesses will recover more quickly and thereby help their communities recover more quickly because they were better prepared in advance of the disaster,” McIntosh said.
Not a moment too soon
Small business owners juggle a lot of responsibilities, so knowing they’ll be eligible for much-needed cash in a time of emergency allows them to breathe easier. That’s why signing up for the program can’t wait.
“Not only are disasters happening more frequently, they are also becoming more intense, affecting larger swaths of territory and impacting even more communities and small businesses,” McIntosh said. “It’s more important than ever for these businesses to register for R4R.
“If disaster strikes, we want them to be among the small businesses that survive, not among those that don’t.”
Doing what’s right
McIntosh says FedEx has a longstanding commitment to helping others in times of crisis.
“Our founder, Fred Smith, said, ‘If your neighbor’s house is on fire, and you have a hose, you help put out the fire,’” McIntosh explained. “We have 700 airplanes and 200,000 vehicles on the world’s roads. We can get relief supplies where they need to go.
“R4R is like the hose. We’re putting it out there to help small businesses stay in business. It’s good for them, and it’s good for the community.”
For more information, visit Ready4Resiliency.com
