SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — As Congress works to pass more funding for small business loans amid the coronavirus outbreak, many Central Florida small businesses remain shut down. 

The owner of an Altamonte Springs business says not only is her business struggling financially, but her clients are also suffering.

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Liza Riedel says people who have limited mobility due to spinal cord injuries and strokes seek treatment at NextStep Orlando multiple times each week. 

Riedel says her business is considered essential and she could have stayed open, but it was not worth the risk of putting her clients in danger of catching COVID-19. 

“If they have a spinal cord injury, their diaphragm does not work at 100 percent, so they cannot cough or sneeze. So the risk is, I don’t think it’s worth the risk to stay open,” said Riedel.

Spectrum News 13 featured Riedel as an Everyday Hero back in January 2018.  Riedel started the business a few years ago after realizing the need for it after her own daughter suffered a spinal cord injury more than a decade ago.

Riedel says she applied for one of the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program, or SBA PPP loans, through the federal government.  But she says she has not been able to get a loan because funds ran out.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Tuesday to add more funding to the loan program, and the U.S. House is expected to approve more funding for the loans on Thursday.

Riedel says her business is especially vulnerable financially because the small nonprofit relies heavily on donations. 

She already has had to postpone a golf tournament - originally scheduled for May – that usually raises a lot of the money NextStep Orlando relies on for the year. 

That tournament is now scheduled tentatively for September.

“Nobody is really giving, nobody has the funds to give now so the damage is for months if not years to come,” said Riedel.  ​