Washington County restaurants finally receive financial relief

CHARLEROI, Pa. — Restaurants and hospitality-related businesses in Washington County are finally receiving financial aid from the state.

During a news conference Wednesday, county leaders gathered to announce their progress in divvying up grant money provided through the COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP).

As Channel 11 has previously reported, the state program is providing $145 million to help businesses that have struggled. The money is being divided between counties, where leaders are required to establish grant programs for eligible businesses.

Washington County received approximately $2.3 million. To date, 84 of 101 applicants have been approved to receive an average of $22,368. The program has roughly $300,000 left for other business owners, who can apply at www.washcogrant.com.

The updates were announced at the River House Cafe in Charleroi, which is among the recipients.

“With COVID, it took us down over $600,000 in revenue, so we’re so grateful to grants like this that help us to get things back to normalcy,” said restaurant co-owner Lori Coury.

But according to advocates in the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association, businesses in the commonwealth deserve more.

Ben Fileccia, Director of Operations and Strategy, told Channel 11 that while $145 million seems like a lot of money, it’s certainly not enough to cover the losses faced by the 26,000 restaurants across Pennsylvania.

“Of course we’re not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but it did take over a year to get that funding to these restaurants that have been so decimated over the past 14 months,” he said. “And we really hope the governor will replenish that fund.”

Fileccia further noted that across Pennsylvania, 20 percent of restaurants closed during the pandemic, while nationwide that number stood at 14 percent.

It’s higher in Pennsylvania, Fileccia said, “because of the strict mitigation, the opening and closing, that we’ve seen from the Wolf Administration over the past year.

Dennis Davin, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, was present during Wednesday’s event, and promised that more help is on the way.

“There will be future help,” he told Channel 11. “And we’re going to work with the legislature to determine exactly what that future help will be.”

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