Hey, this is Curiosity audio producer Stephen Jackson, and I'm here with Monica Aang.

Hey, Stephen.

Hey, Monica.

So on today's episode, we're going to answer a question about what people can do to support small business.

Yep, and I'm going to talk to a top chef about the things she's doing to support Chicago restaurants and the greater community during the pandemic.

That's all coming up.

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So, Monica, we all know that COVID has changed just about everything, about everyone's life.

But today we're going to talk about one group that's really struggling.

That's small businesses.

Yeah, a lot of small businesses in Illinois have had a super tough time of it during the pandemic.

And that's something that has been weighing on question asker, Mike Coherick.

He says he always tries to support small local businesses.

And so it really struck him last year when Manny's, you know, the iconic Chicago Deli, famous for its corned beef sandwiches, reached out to a local blog and said they could really use some business.

It made me really think, how can I best know when I need to help my local community restaurants and businesses before they hit the point of no

return where they're forced to close. Well, that's a great question. Unfortunately, we found out

it's not super easy to know when small businesses are on the brink. But what Mike also wanted to know

was how he can support small local businesses right now in general.

...