This week’s Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Zoe Dehmer — a co-founder of Carrboro United.

Carrboro United is a local food hub that launched at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic that has since helped dozens of local restaurants and food providers and hundreds of people in the local community who make their living in the food industry.

Dehmer said the public response to Carrboro United has been overwhelming.

“I have three customers that have come over a hundred times in a year. We have, I think, over a hundred people that have come 50 times. That’s an average of once a week to the hud and thousands of customers altogether. So people have made a commitment to it that tells us that they’re really truly trying to save jobs locally.”

 

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In addition, local restaurants have been saved thanks to efforts from Carrboro United.

“A lot of business owners have told us that Carrboro United is the difference between having to furlough staff or not, or having to close or not.”

In just over a year, Carrboro United has done about $2 million worth of business for 45 different vendors. Dehmer said it has helped to build a sense of community as well.

“We’re really thinking of ourselves as partners in business, not just on the same block, but faced with the same challenges and why not face them together?”

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Listen to this week’s Hometown Hero segment: