American Express Pledges Additional $5 Million To Aid Small Businesses After Hurricanes

As communities across the Southeast continue to recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, American Express, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, has expanded its Small Business Hurricane Recovery grant program to provide critical financial relief.

With an additional $5 million in grants distributed to 1,000 more small businesses, the initiative has now delivered $10 million in total aid to 2,000 businesses struggling to rebuild. The funding was made possible through American Express’ Small Business Saturday corporate pledge in November, where the company donated $1 for every purchase made with an eligible AmEx card at participating small businesses.

Beyond financial aid, the program provides resources to help small businesses prepare for future storms. Several grant recipients have already detailed the impact of this support.

Newtomics, a medical clinic in Spruce Pine, N.C., will use its grant to continue pro bono care for volunteers, replace lost inventory, and rehire staff.

“I had cancer when I was young, so I grew up in the hospital,” said Newtomics owner Joshua Newton. “When I opened my own practice, my goal was to build something that puts the patient first.” After the hurricane, the clinic was flooded and there was mud a few feet deep all along their street.

“The very first thing we did was make home visits and check in on our high-risk patients and those who were in heavily devastated areas,” Newton said. “We already do home visits, but these were different. We were trying to make sure everybody had the meds they needed. We werent charging anything, just trying to do whatever we could to take care of people. And we offered all the volunteers free health care.”

Creative Village Childcare in Swannanoa, N.C., co-owned by Liz Dohy and Tonya Davis, saw its facility surrounded by debris and downed trees.

“When everything was over, it took me three days to make it down to the business because there was nowhere to park. All I could see was a telephone pole just hanging in the middle of the road. When I finally saw our building and it was standing, I burst into tears,” Dohy said. “I had to climb the playground fence to get inside because trees were blocking it. Seeing the devastation in the community that I grew up in, that Ive lived in my whole life, really takes your breath away.”

The Chop Shop in Bradenton, Fla., a family-run butcher shop, is using its grant to retain 21 employees and continue food deliveries to residents unable to leave their homes.

“The first day that I got here after the hurricane, the roof was pretty much in the parking lot. Power was out for many days, and we were closed for 40 of those days. We did a door service where we would stand at the door and take customer orders,” said owner Susan Higbee.

“We’ve been in the same place since 1971. We’ve had generations of family members as owners, and now we see generations of families as customers,” Higbee said. “We still donate to a lot of different food banks, fire departments, and schools just to make sure that we’re helping as much as we can. We don’t have a lot to give, but somebody always needs something. It’s not just us. So, we try to do as much as we can, even if its discounts for places like churches and schools.”

American Express has been partnering with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to support small businesses affected by natural disasters since the 2023 Maui wildfires.