Chelsea Pisani wears multiple hats running her small business in downtown Creswell – leading her staff and clients through the pandemic.EMMA ROUTLEY/THE CHRONICLE
Despite the heaviness that seems to be dominating our thoughts and routines throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Creswell community continues to provide a plethora of reasons to experience deep gratitude.
Being a local small-business owner has its own collection of peaks and valleys, even without unforeseen challenges, such as what we are experiencing as a nation and a world. The biggest and best saving grace has been the resources that are found within our own city; the kindness of neighbors, the shared knowledge and ideas among local business owners, the patience and grace offered up by the clients who continue to share their stories of challenge and triumph.
The list goes on.
My husband and I had just months to establish ourselves within the walls of our new businesses prior to the mandatory shutdown. The restrictions that were placed for us to safely reopen to the public posed a new challenge. The continued changes pose even more challenges. We needed help. We needed guidance. We needed minds that have operated as business owners in this community longer than us.
Thankfully, we found them. Creswell business owners showed up in force to offer everything they had. Their insight, their resources and their incredible kindness.
Having the access and opportunity to pick the brains of some of the brightest and most knowledgeable business owners in our area made us feel more secure. It united us and was a bright light during some of the darkest days of our professional livelihood.
Our community is full of incredible humans whose hearts continue to hold up others. They have come forward in considerable numbers to offer encouragement and support. Their support has come in the form of purchasing items from our small businesses and the other family-owned stores that fill Creswell with its sense of small-town pride. Encouragement arrives in the form of “Thanks!” and other signs of gratitude from clients, appreciative of our willingness to continue providing our services, despite the added difficulties.
Thank you. Thank you to the small-business owners, families, friends and residents who have continued to understand how vital your patronage is to our current and continued success. It is vital to our ability to continue serving our community and vital to the health of our community.
Please, continue shopping locally and offering your kindness and support to small businesses. There’s no better time than now.
Individuals are enduring what has been referred to as “unprecedented times.” As a resident, neighbor and local business owner in Creswell, I’m experiencing – even enduring – my fair share of the pandemic’s ripple effects. I’ve heard the worry, anguish and concern from family, clients and friends.
In the end, I come back to this: Creswell has always fostered this beautiful sense of community.
Chelsea Pisani is founder/owner of the Creswell Wellness Center, wife of Pazzo’s owner/chef, and a mom to Ethan and Aram. She wrote this for The Chronicle.
