It's been a tough few days for many business owners in downtown Grand Rapids
Ruby Kaskorkis owns Parsley Mediterranean Grill and was understandably upset seeing the damage to his restaurant but in the days following many have helped the downtown businesses get back on their feet.
"The encouraging part was the next day when I showed up here," Kaskorkis said. "Actually my brother showed up before me started cleaning up the place and when I go there I saw maybe like 15 people helping him."
It gave Ruby a moment of perspective.
"I actually looked around and saw there were a lot more people downtown helping out all the other businesses," Kaskorkis said. "I realized that is one of the reasons I have been open for eleven years because these are the people I serve this type of families this is the type of values they have."
All of the businesses we spoke with Tuesday echoed Kaskorkis's sentiments.
"It has been incredible to see the anger and violence and how it has simmered out," Alina Sur, VP of Operations at MadCap Coffee said. "But all the business owners coming together and having each others back has been really nice."
"The day after the riots so many people came to help us put the place back together," Kristyn Heagberg, Manager at Biggby Coffee said. "Super thankful to everyone who helped us out. It was nice to see the community come together to help out everyone who was affected."
People of Grand Rapids came through when they were needed.
"The mayor says come out and help these businesses," Kaskorkis said. "And She really got a lot of people to come down."
Still a ways to go for a lot of the folks. Many places are still able to be open despite all the boards.
