NORWICH - Improve Norwich Now has partnered with a consulting company out of Manlius New York to create a medium for Chenango County residents to support their local businesses during the pandemic.

According to Improve Norwich Now (INN) President Jen Westervelt, INN’s mission is to remove barriers and provide supports, so all community members can reach their full potential.

INN Board Member Eric Wich said one way residents of Chenango County can take part in INN’s mission and help local businesses is by purchasing gift cards for their businesses during closures.

“It’s all about giving the community the power to support their local businesses,” said Wich. “We want to show people who may currently feel powerless in this dark time that they do have the means to really make a difference to small business owners.”

Wich said Metis Consulting Group is a certified B-Corp business, and has agreed to donate software development hours to support Improve Norwich Now in making givehaveneed.com a reality. He said the website will allow residents to purchase gift cards for local businesses.

He added that it's up to business owners to reach out to representatives at givehaveneed.com/partner and fill out an application, but that there is no cost to the business to take part in the service.

“We ask for some basic information that will help us determine which category you fit in on the website, and what your preferences are for gift cards,” said Wich. “The partnership is completely free, and Improve Norwich Now won’t benefit off of donations.”

He said all residents have to do is visit givehaveneed.com, go through the categories, and select the businesses they’d like to support with a gift card purchase.

“All of this relies on businesses signing up and allowing people to purchase their gift cards,” he added. “So we’re asking that if you’re a business that’s interested in taking part, please reach out to us.”

Wich said businesses will receive a check on a regular basis, contact information for the individuals who have made a purchase, along with a spreadsheet.

“The reason we decided to go this route is that we know all businesses have different ways of handling gift cards,” he said. “ We determined that the easiest way to handle this is to send businesses checks in the mail to allow businesses to deal with this in the way that is best for them.”

Those who are interested in receiving updates on the website’s progress may visit Improve Norwich Now’s facebook page for additional information.