Editor鈥檚 note: This is part of a series exploring how Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs and small businesses have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and their plans for moving forward.
Maker: Daniel Brown, co-founder
Business: Rust Belt Riders, an organization working to divert food waste from landfills into agricultural products like compost
Rust Belt Riders resume pickup services today after a break during to the pandemic.
What precautions have you taken to help protect your staff?
鈥淲e鈥檝e been doing the obvious stuff like having lots of hand sanitizer on hand. We鈥檝e got a steady supply of bleach and things that can kill off COVID. We鈥檝e got face mask protection. We鈥檝e implemented social-distancing. We鈥檙e making sure people are taking their temperatures before coming into work, that they鈥檙e showering before and after work. We鈥檙e sterilizing everything we touch as we鈥檝e always done. And I think that鈥檚 kind of the really interesting thing. We realized that a lot of the best practices that were being recommended were just part of our normal operations to begin with. We want to be an organization that really puts the well-being of the team that we have first and foremost because our work is only possible with our team. You can provide all the PPE in the world and still be uncomfortable in this situation. We鈥檙e trying to keep an open dialogue with our staff about how we can go above and beyond to make sure that people feel comfortable.鈥�
Talk about your perspective during the outbreak?
鈥淚t鈥檚 devastating, but I think it鈥檚 also for me been really pointing out the things that are important. Your ability to communicate with loved ones, your access to health care, to know where your food comes from. It鈥檚 a reminder that people that provide the essential services are often the ones first forgotten. We talk about how health care workers are heroes and grocery store clerks are heroes and the sanitation workers are heroes. We don鈥檛 often think about those people in those ways, and I鈥檓 really happy and thankful that that type of work is being appreciated in the way it is right now. I just hope we don鈥檛 forget this moment.鈥�
How have you been staying creative?
鈥淚 think that for a lot of this it feels like, once you鈥檙e providing a service, you鈥檙e on this hamster wheel of sorts that you must keep going. And while we鈥檝e continued to go, I feel like we鈥檙e on a different gear and it鈥檚 allowed us to dive very deeply into some of the work that we鈥檝e always wanted to carve time out for. And in carving time out to do that, we鈥檙e going to emerge from this a far better and more effective organization. And to just share some of what we know. I think we鈥檝e taken for granted some of the stuff we鈥檝e learned along the way, and this has been a nice time to pause and literally write it down and share it with people.鈥�
