In March 2010 glass artist Tracy Glover’s studio was inundated in the largest flood Rhode Island had seen in 200 years. Like many of the people affected by the incredibly rare event, she did not have flood insurance. Enter CERF+.
“CERF+ helped me with grants and loans immediately, which let me set up my business elsewhere,” Glover recalled. “The financial assistance held us over until FEMA and the Small Business Administration came through later.”
“What’s so great about CERF+ is that the people helping you are part of your artistic community. You feel supported by fellow artists. I can’t stress enough when you go through this—and I lost eighty percent of everything in my studio—that good will like CERF+’s is priceless.”
Glover was able to take this devastating event and turn it into an opportunity to refine both her art process and her business. “The flood happened at the end of March and amazingly, thanks in part to CERF+, I was able to ship my first product as soon as the end of May. I changed the focus of my business model, and really so many positive things came from the experience.”
“Our new office is on the third floor of a building, well above the water line if anything like this happens again. I went from maintaining my own glass furnace to renting time from other studios, which really made me more efficient and productive, and lets me just focus on the glass I’m making.”
(excerpted from the Artful Home)