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Old Iron Horse Restaurant and Lounge gets $10K grant

Local small business, Old Iron Horse Restaurant and Lounge, owned by Tom Lam, recently received a $10,000 grant from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and Salesforce.
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Inside the Old Iron Horse Restaurant and Lounge. Image: Facebook

Local small business, Old Iron Horse Restaurant and Lounge, owned by Tom Lam, recently received a $10,000 grant from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and Salesforce.

The Ponoka restaurant is one of 62 grant recipients to benefit from its Canadian Business Resilience Network Small Business Relief Fund.

“The Ponoka and District Chamber of commerce is very excited that one of our members has been chosen to receive this grant, and we would like to congratulate Old Iron Horse Restaurant and Lounge,” stated a news release from the chamber.

More than 1,100 small businesses across Canada applied for the 62 grants available.

“The sheer number of applicants indicates how many businesses have been negatively affected by the pandemic,” the release continued.

“The lucky recipients were those that best demonstrated their financial strain, how the business will use the grant to change or innovate, how the change or innovation will sustain the business’s recovery and allow it to prosper, and how the grant will support the role each business plays in their community.”

The fund was managed by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and made possible through the support of Salesforce .

The funding was designed to help small businesses across the country stay afloat and support their recovery efforts, paying salaries, retrofitting their workplaces and acquiring technology to adapt their business model.

“Reviewing the applications was both heartbreaking and inspiring,” said Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber.

“We saw how seriously small businesses across Canada have been hurt by the pandemic, but we also saw how determined these entrepreneurs are to preserve their employees’ jobs and to serve their customers and their communities.

“Today is a happy way-point, not an end point, and we won’t stop finding new ways to help Canada’s businesses reopen and recover. We’ll be with them every step of the way.”



Emily Jaycox

About the Author: Emily Jaycox

I’m Emily Jaycox, the editor of Ponoka News and the Bashaw Star. I’ve lived in Ponoka since 2015 and have over seven years of experience working as a journalist in central Alberta communities.
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