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Small business coffee shop. (Credit: Unsplash) On Monday business owners have another chance to get help as you try to come back from the pandemic. Lee county is opening up the application process to get free money. The county website shows they’ve already handed out $4.6 million. As of Monday morning, over 2,300 applications have been approved. This is a one-time $5,000 grant to help out small businesses. We spoke to a coffee shop owner who got approved and he told us how he plans to use the money. “We floated some of our bills on our credit card to get through the COVID part and this will help pay some of those credit card bills down,” said Mike Peterson, owner of Java House near Downtown Fort Myers. Business owners like Peterson say the application was tedious but it was worth it. The owner must be a Lee County resident and the businesses has to have been affected by the safer at home order, and it must have 25 employees or less. That means essential businesses do not fall under this category. The next phase of the business assistance program that launches July 6 provides grants to companies that laid off or furloughed workers because of the pandemic. That’s where essential businesses could claim their money. If you want to apply to receive that money visit the LeeCares website HERE.