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FUN and the PPP

May 31st, 2022 by Kenneth Abrahams

In response to my recent blog on the student loan debt forgiveness, we received a comment from someone that had read the piece, pointing out the fact that I had never acknowledged that Fun Enterprises had taken a loan that was forgiven from the federal government in the form of the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) during the Corona Virus Pandemic. When I was writing the blog on Student Debt, the PPP wasn’t on my mind because I felt the two were not related. So, I sat down and penned a response and sent it to be edited. Based on the feedback I received, it seemed that my response was a bit defensive, which is never a smart way to approach a blog topic. Still, I feel the need to address the issue because the comment lent itself to the idea that I was being less than forthcoming about the PPP loan we received, which has never been true.

To be clear FUN Enterprises, Inc. did in fact take advantage of the PPP and if we hadn’t there is no guarantee that we would still be here today. That is not hyperbole or conjecture but merely the reality of the situation. In December of 2019, we started hearing rumblings in the press that there was a new virus out there and it was contagious and deadly. It was also on the other side of the world, and we seemingly (at that time) had little to worry about. Like the rest of the world, we watched in both horror and fascination as the virus spread from the city of Wuhan, China to every nook and cranny on the globe. We saw pictures of IC Units in Italy and became familiar with things like ventilators and N95 masks. I watched videos put out by the Surgeon General of the United States on how to make a face covering from a cloth napkin or bandana and 2 rubber bands. Then, we had a serious outbreak in Boston in February of 2020 at the Biogen Conference which, when it was all said and done, was tied to the infections of tens of thousands of people worldwide. It was now starting to hit close to home.

In early March, the news was looking bleaker every day. More infections, more hospitalizations, and more deaths. Despite the grim news and growing numbers, we still weren’t too worried because no one foresaw a prolonged shut down or any shutdown at all. Months earlier we had scheduled our 30th Anniversary Party for March 7th and decided to go forward with it. We posted signs about social distancing and hand washing but at that point no one was wearing masks. Thankfully, our party happened, and no one came down with COVID. That Monday, March 9th in the office we started to hear from several sources and clients of colleges and universities shutting down to combat the spread. It started out as just a few schools, Princeton, MIT, and a few in California but it prompted discussions in the office. If we didn’t bring in another dollar in the next month, how long could we last? Our CFO said that keeping all our staff we could make it to the end of July. We brought our staff together; explained the situation and let them all know the plan. Starting late that afternoon, the flood of cancellations began. Some of our clients had made the decision to go virtual for the remainder of the year or go with a modified schedule and an extended spring break with a reassessment in early April. As everyone knows schools shut down on campus instruction and went virtual for the rest of the year. Our cancellations totaled well over $250,000.00 and that didn’t account for lost revenue of dates that never got booked. We, along with businesses all over the globe, were worried.

In response, FUN shifted to providing virtual events but a lot of what we do doesn’t lend itself to that format. It led to a lot of sleepless nights. Our staff came to us and asked to be laid off. There was minimal work so keeping them employed was going to be difficult and they wanted a job and a company to return to when this was all over. As painful as it was, that was the route we went. It was depressing, to say the least, to come into the office every day. A few weeks into the pandemic, I shifted to working remotely where I have been ever since.

When the PPP first came out, we passed on it. Too much of the loan had to be used for payroll and we had other expenses that were as, if not more, pressing. When they changed the parameters, we did avail ourselves of it. As a result, we were able to bring staff back to assist with the virtual and shipping programs we were now selling. Over time as things opened, we were able to bring everyone back and we are now back to doing primarily live events.

Without the assistance provided by the government, as I said earlier, we may not have survived. Perhaps we would have, but it would have been far more difficult. We, like so many others needed that help, our financial straits were not caused by mismanagement or foolish spending, they were the result of something beyond our control. If you want to argue that the program could have been better managed with more oversight, we can certainly have that discussion but all of us, including the government, were in uncharted territory. Many companies would not be here today without the help they received.

Perhaps when I wrote my original blog piece there was a touch of anger or defensiveness there. It felt as if the comment that was made was almost accusatory, and I reacted as such. If I had it all to do over again, I would still take the money from the PPP. Would I have done some things differently? Of course, I would have, hindsight is 20/20 after all. Maybe, we would have developed more virtual and shipping programs. Should we have jumped into virtual programming and not waited? There are several things we could potentially have done differently but that is a story for another day. At no point did I mean or attempt to hide from the fact that we took the PPP. It has been something that we have openly discussed with clients and other vendors in 2020/2021, we saw it as a lifeline, and we grabbed hold of it.

About the author:

Ken Abrahams is the author of this post and many others that appear in this space. Opinions expressed here are his own and not those of FUN Enterprises, Inc., and its employees. He is always up for a good discussion or debate on the issues / topics that he writes about. Please reach out to him at [email protected] if you would like to connect or discuss anything he has written. Wishing you all a wonderful Summer.

To find out more about the company go to our website www.funent.com you can also go to this link to sign up for our newsletter which comes out about 6 times a year https://funent.com/subscribe-to-the-funny-pages/.  Our newsletter will tell you more about the company and the products and services we offer as well as some games, things to do and the occasional cooking tip.