CBC News:
A single mother who recently realized her dream of opening a vegetarian restaurant could lose the business after a serious case of the flu.
Liz Stanley opened Up the Road restaurant with the help of Momentum, a non-profit agency that helps low-income Calgarians get loans, manage money and start businesses.
Opening a restaurant had always been Stanley’s dream, she said. When her plans finally started coming together, she was pregnant and looking after a toddler.
“It was difficult,” Stanley said. “I gave birth, and then went for my loan interview the next day, pretty much.”
On Oct. 24, Stanley got the flu, and a week later, she ended up in the hospital for a day with pneumonia. She was too sick to return to work, and her part-time employee couldn’t run the business alone, so she was forced to close.
After almost a month with no income and an eight-month-old and 2 ½-year-old at home, she is struggling to keep her business and personal finances afloat. She says she is looking for a small loan, not a handout.
“I’m going to be trying to think of ways of how I can get out of this,” she said. “Somebody like me, I don’t own a house. I didn’t have any other means. If I fall on hard times, I am basically it. And I am also a single mother so it is that much harder.”
Photo by Brisbane Falling