and last updated 2021-02-01 22:24:38-05
KALAMAZOO, Mich. â A grassroots effort to help local restaurants and workers will continue, despite the end of the indoor dining ban in Michigan.
Friends Todd Heeter and Jay Rustenholtz created the #LocalLove Kalamazoo campaign on social media in late 2020.
Their goal: to help and highlight locally owned and operated restaurants, while also raising money to help employees affected by the COVID-19 restrictions and closures.
The campaign has taken off in 2021, bringing in more than $25,000 dollars to help restaurant workers.
Heeter and Rustenholz have now filed to make #LocalLove Kalamazoo an official non-profit, and say their work will continue as long as the need is there.