We need a comprehensive relief package NOW! Listen to Lancaster Stands Up member Barbara Searles' make the case for necessary relief measures and share her perspective as a small business owner and a person effected by Covid-19:

"As a small business owner with a close-contact, healthcare-adjacent business, I understood why Governor Wolf closed businesses in March to flatten the curve. The public health information about social distancing and wearing masks made sense to me. Still, I knew that fighting..."

"COVID-19 would be a rough road. And I honestly thought Americans would band together like we have during other crises, get the virus under control, and I’d work for at least part of 2020. But that’s not how it’s happening, is it?"

"Instead, COVID changed everything about what I thought 2020 held for me, my family, and my business. I’m guessing you feel the same way. In fact, I’d give anything to see my clients safely again."

"What I won’t do is endanger the health of our community, my clients, myself, or my family members. And like so many families, ours has been touched by the virus. Some of our family members caught the virus and recovered, and another died as a result of COVID."

"So as a small businessperson, I don’t take any decision lightly right now. Neither should our elected officials. They need to hear real stories from each of us right now. I’m just one of millions of people affected by COVID-19."

"And any kind of meaningful relief for Americans, Lancastrians, and Pennsylvanians is stalled. Yes, restaurants and other small businesses of all kinds need Federal loans to help keep them open and employing workers. But loan application processes are complicated and take..."

"time to complete. Plus, any loan money awarded won’t flow immediately into those businesses. So, business owners and their employees need help now in the form of $1,200 direct payments, which Congress should pass immediately."

"If we don’t speak up, Congress will continue to put capitalism before people. @RepSmucker believes businesses receiving federal loans will be successful enough to “trickle down” funds directly to workers. But this is ideologically driven wishful thinking, unhinged from reality."

"We need to reach out and tell elected officials that we realize millions of already unemployed workers will get none of that. Unemployment eligibility terms should be extended past 39 weeks with the extra weekly federal money returning to those checks."

"In addition, corporations shouldn’t get a pass from liability when they don’t provide enough safeguards for workers or customers.

Plus, everyday citizens need to know that they’re safe in their homes, and Congress must extend the eviction moratorium through June."

"Teachers and schools continue to need PPE and sanitizing supplies, so everyone in schools can be as healthy as possible. Hardworking healthcare workers and hospitals also need more federal support than ever, as we navigate this deadly surge."

"And just as critically, Congress needs to provide essential funding to states and municipalities so they can cover the necessary expenses related to vaccine distribution."

"Our officials must stop trying to score cheap political points by stoking division and start fighting for all of us. It’s going to take pressure from us to make that happen. Please call, write or email Congressman Lloyd Smucker, Senator Pat Toomey, and Senator Bob Casey today."

"Tell them we can’t wait for real relief. We need it right now.

Please call them today:"

Sen. Bob Casey: 717-231-7540

Sen. Pat Toomey: 717-782-3951

Rep. Lloyd Smucker: 717-393-0667

"Better yet: write a letter to the editor demanding that our leaders lead and pass a strong relief bill in this time when so many Americans are struggling.

Thank you,

Barbara Searles, L.M.T., B.C.T.M.B., Lancaster Stands Up member"