As we mark one year since the pandemic changed our lives, we asked you to introduce us to your COVID heroes

As the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, we at the STAR-K kashrus certification agency were very concerned by the economic ramifications for our employees. Dozens of our staff members were no longer able to work at their jobs because the sites they supervised were closed.

Our only hope seemed to be a PPP loan from the Paycheck Protection Program — a business-relief measure that helps employers keep employees on salary during times of economic uncertainty. Without that we would need to start laying off people. And these are people we see as part of our family.

We made every effort to complete a PPP application with two banks, to no avail — our application was complex and these banks simply did not have the bandwidth to work with us. Things did not look good.

Then at the 11th hour, after a late Motzaei Shabbos call to well-known Baltimore community activist Mr. Yehuda Neuberger, we found Brett Weil, Commercial Relationship Officer at PeoplesBank. Brett is not only a talented loan officer, he is highly visible in our community at Congregation Shearith Israel led by Rav Yakov Hopfer shlita, as a fixture in the beis medrash at Rav Yossi Berger’s Kehilas Kol Torah, and as a JCC Board member and sports coach. He has helped numerous other yeshivos and other mosdos get critical loans — and just as we were about to despair, he was able to help us too.

Working with our team literally around the clock with dedication, professionalism, and a can-do attitude, Brett had our application fully processed by Monday morning in time to be submitted. He spared dozens of STAR-K employees from losing their jobs, and saved our organization from crippling concerns about our financial health. Angels come in many shapes and sizes, and ours came holding a sheaf of completed PPP forms.

—Avrom Pollak, President, STAR-K Certification, Inc.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 854)