When Frank Montes and his wife, Arlene, first opened their family-owned, full-service collision center 35 years ago, the couple would often bring their children to the shop. Sometimes rocking their young son to sleep in his bassinet, Arlene would answer customer calls.

Now their two grown sons, Frank Jr. and Vincent, work alongside them at their small business, the Inland Body and Paint Center in Fontana. And as a family, they continue to cope with and work through this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are living in a totally different world now,” said Frank.

The Montes family started safety protocols even before the stay-at-home order, thoroughly cleaning their shop twice a day. Their employees continue to wear masks and gloves, social distancing as they work. Customers wait outside the shop in a lounge area and are provided masks if they don’t have one. All vehicles coming in and leaving are also sanitized.

“I talk to my employees daily to be careful out there and not just at the business. They have a duty and responsibility to stay safe,” said Frank, who also checks employees’ temperatures every day.

Frank estimates that the shop’s business has dropped about 20% since the start of the pandemic. Other businesses have fared far worse, some closing permanently. To help encourage Californians to support small businesses, the state has launched the Shop Safe Shop Local campaign through July and Southern California Edison is a partner.

The state is working with industry leaders and experts on the “California for All Small Business Month” campaign to provide small businesses with the tools and resources to help them adapt to the current pandemic and safe reopening.

“Small customers in retail and restaurants are struggling a lot and some have had to close down,” said Veronica Diaz, an SCE account manager who works with Hispanic-owned small businesses like the Inland Body and Paint Center. “We want to provide support to our small business customers so that these businesses stay in California.”

Diaz now uses virtual tools like video conferencing to let SCE small business customers know about the utility’s different rate options and other online tools to help with energy and money savings. She also notes that SCE is not currently charging late payment fees and will work with customers on payment plans.

In addition to getting the Montes family business on a better rate plan, Diaz worked with them before the pandemic to upgrade lighting, replace old equipment with energy-efficient models and SCE also did an energy audit to identify additional savings.

“We want our customers to know that there is a team here for you. If you have questions, reach out to us,” said Diaz.

Four months into the pandemic, the Montes family continues to work six days a week as an essential business and are thankful for the customers who continue to support them.

As the immediate past chairman of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and a member of SCE’s Small Business Advisory Panel, Frank knows well the importance of small businesses to the economy and local communities.

“Small businesses hire locally and are the fabric of our communities. If you spend money at a local business, the money stays local,” he said. “Small businesses turn the economic wheels of any state or country.”

Frank is grateful to Edison for recognizing early on the needs of small businesses, especially in its bill help programs: “Just knowing that they truly care about the community made it easier to get up in the morning.”

He encourages all Californians to support and shop at local small businesses in July.

“Please support small businesses now and support them in the future,” said Frank. “Once this pandemic is over, don’t forget about small businesses.”

For SCE small business resources: sce.com/business/small-business-resources.