Reporter’s Notebook: Making Ends Meet As Businesses Struggle

Walker’s Coffee and Pub, where I have worked for over a year, closed its doors on Monday, March 9, 2020. (Photo/Kate Ross).

The Athens Virtual Tip Jar was created by Jennifer Douberly. It allows people in the service industry to post their Venmo, Paypal and CashApp handles to receive virtual gratuity from customers. With 7,858 people employed in the Athens food service industry, this is one way that some can buy necessary items while out of work. I have only received $7 in virtual tips, but it has proved to more fruitful for other service industry workers. (Photo/Kate Ross)

Young Harris Memorial United Methodist Church in Athens, Georgia decides to close its doors despite Governor Kemp’s decision to classify religious services as “essential business.” (Photo/Kate Ross)

East Clayton Street in downtown Athens is vacant due to the shelter-in-place restrictions, which have forced all non-essential businesses to close indefinitely. (Photo/Kate Ross)

Athenians provide bagged lunches and water bottles on College Avenue to those in need. (Photo/Kate Ross)

Gas price is seen at a BP gas station in Athens, Ga. on Sunday April 5, 2020. Gas prices are plummeting around the country as average pump prices sit below $2 per gallon in 16 states according to data from auto club AAA. (Photo/Kate Ross)

Notice posted on the window of Circle K in Athens, Ga. on Sunday April 5, 2020. Many businesses and restaurants that have remained open have been forced to change the way they operate to accommodate the health hazards caused by COVID-19. (Photo/Kate Ross)

A once peopled patio located on College Avenue lays barren in the wake of a global pandemic. (Photo/Kate Ross)

Walker’s Coffee and Pub is empty on March 9, 2020 moments before its owners decided to close its doors. (Photo/Kate Ross)