ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – For small business owners, the pandemic has presented challenges they never anticipated. The concern has been not only the balancing act of staying afloat under new public safety-driven regulations, but also tracking down much-needed personal protective equipment for employees as operations ramped back up.

“The first thing I did was try to get the equipment, the gloves, all that. Then I was like, 'Uh oh, we have a problem.' I could not find it," said Evan Dimov, who owns restaurant Too Much Sauce in Orlando. “It’s very frustrating to not be able to find supplies.”

That's why an initiative launched by Orange County today was pivotal, Dimov said.

The county began distributing 200 free face masks and 40 bottles of hand sanitizer to small businesses in a drive-through style, operating out of six pop-up distribution sites.

Businesses must register with the county in order to receive an appointment time this week to pick up the PPE.

The county told us that the businesses must have one employee as the minimum, but no more than 40 individuals, regardless of full-time or part-time status, and that priority will be given to businesses that recently reopened, are eligible to open in the governor's Phase 1 or have had trouble getting PPE.

At Corner Lake Middle, located along Chuluota Road in east Orange County, Orlando Fire Rescue helped to set up around 6:30 a.m., filling bags with tiny hand sanitizers, stacking boxes and popping up several tents in a long row.

Others, like Orange County's Yetzenia Negron, directed the arriving cars, clipboard in hand, to the loading zones where they could pick up their bags.

“I love my community, my community has given me so much," she said. "So being able to do this is like we’re giving back to the people that are in need."

She said that the first hour of pick up, starting around 9 a.m., was busy. The anticipated around 300 cars throughout the course of the day, and 20,000 at all six sites throughout the week.

Around 9:30 a.m., Dimov and his daughter rolled through to pick up their PPE. While the restaurant has employed other safety measures, like checking employees' temperatures and spacing dining room tables apart, receiving masks was a huge relief.

“Safety comes first. Not just for us, our employees, but to everybody who comes in contact with us. If we didn’t have that we would not open," Dimov said. “It will probably help us for a couple of weeks.”