The Small Business Administration has released a list of the Paycheck Protection Program loans that were paid for by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), signed into law in March by President Donald Trump.
Through July 23 nearly 5,500 lenders approved almost 5 million loans worth more than $500 billion, according to the SBA. Banks did not charge fees for the loan processing.
The loans are broken down in six tiers: $5 million to $10 million; $2 to 5 million; $1 million to $2 million; $350,000 to $1 million; $150,000 to $350,000; and below $150,000. The data dump was so massive that addresses were not released for the loans below $150,000.
With the average loan value of $104,000 announced by the SBA makes it clear that the overwhelming bulk of the lending went to small businesses.
The top recipients in Stayton and the Santiam Canyon were Freres Lumber in Lyons and Santiam Memorial Hospital in Stayton. Both were in the $5 million plus category.
Power Auto of Sublimity was in the $2 million category, with Frank Lumber (Lyons) and two Aumsville companies, Blazer Industries and Modern Buildings Systems, both receiving at least $1 million.
Freres Lumber, which specializes in plywood, veneer and other engineered wood products, received $5.7 million from the PPP, with Columbia Bank processing the loans.
“We had been experiencing a real strong market for the past one-and-a-half years,” said Kyle Freres, vice president of operations. “But once the virus hit our sales just dried up.”
Freres kept most of its 430 employees working until the end of April. In the first week of May they took down operations entirely.
Freres also had concerns about the bureaucracy riding roughshod over the program.
“The biggest challenge for us was that the rules still were being written,” he said. “We were concerned as a business because the guidelines were unclear. That creates uncertainty and risk. But Columbia was able to work with us and do it right.”
When Freres got its PPP loan it was able to rev up the plants almost immediately because companies elsewhere in the supply chain also were receiving loans.
“The PPP funds created demand for downstream customers,” Freres. “Our customers received PPP loans and that kept things going. We have some long supply chains and all of that allowed us to keep our plants going.
“Our markets have taken off in the last four to six weeks. There is a lot of pent-up demand for wood products. I would hire 30 more people tomorrow if we could.”
Top Recipients
Here is a list of companies in the Stayton-Santiam Canyon area that received more than $350,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program:
$5 – $10 million:
Freres Lumber, Lyons
Santiam Memorial Hospital, Stayton
$2 – $5 million
Power Auto, Sublimity
$1 – $2 million
Blazer Industries, Aumsville
Modern Building Systems, Aumsville
Frank Lumber, Lyons
$350,000 – $1 million
Doerfler Farms
Franco Reforest Raw Advantage
Breitenbush Hot Springs
MPP Piping
Oregon State Bridge Const.
R & G Excavating
Top Hat Mushroom
II-S Mechanical, Legacy Contracting
Littau Harvester
North Santiam Paving
Regis St. Mary Catholic School
Siegmund E/C
Summit Contractors
Sublimity Insurance
