Item Details

creator

Cummins, Amanda

Morphis, Beth

date

2020-09-17T14:13:44Z

2020-09-17T14:13:44Z

2020-07-17

2020-09-17 (issued)

description

Beth Morphis is the owner of Salem Gymnastics and Swim, a local business that provides gymnastic and swim lessons to children. Morphis has been involved with the center since the 1970s and fully took ownership of the business in the 80s. Like many small businesses, Morphis expected to shut down for only a few weeks and reevaluate if the circumstances had not changed regarding the spread of COVID-19. Seeing the severity of the situation, Morphis and her team began questioning whether or not they would be able to survive the closure. Instead of taking the shutdown as a negative for her business, Beth Morphis decided to seize the opportunity to determine how she could make her company stronger. In this interview, in addition to discussing how Salem Gymnastics and Swim initially reacted to the coronavirus, Morphis explores how her business changed its daily operations to provide safety measures. She and her team marked six feet social distancing guidelines with tape on floors, installed hand sanitizing stations at various locations around the facility, and installed plexiglass at desk areas. Additionally, the entire flow of customers was changed to avoid large gatherings of people. While shut down, Salem Gymnastics and Swim underwent structural repairs and other renovations that otherwise would have required a complete closure during normal business operations. In a touching moment, Morphis describes the loyalty of her customers describing the message she sent to them notifying them of the closure. Despite not being able to come to classes, numerous families continued to pay tuition which helped keep her business afloat during these uncertain times.

format

audio/mp6

Oral histories

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/97009

language

en_Us

relation

Special Collections and Archives

Z. Smith Reynolds Library

Wake Forest University

Office of Civic and Community Engagement (RG22.6)

rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Rights Statement

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

subject

Coronavirus infections--History--Sources

COVID-19 (Disease)--History--Sources

Wake Forest University--History--Sources

COVID-19 Student Interviews

Office of Civic and Community Engagement

Small business

Winston-Salem (N.C)

Gymnastics

Swimming

title

COVID-19 Student Interviews - Morphis, Beth

type

Sound