Things To Do In SW Florida

Boards of directors

Jason Schrago, real estate broker, Newmark, Winter Park, was appointed to the board of directors of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

Michael D. Piccolo, senior associate, Lowndes, Orlando, was appointed to the board of directors of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

Robert Beckner, principal of Lightle Beckner Robison Inc., Melbourne, was appointed to the board of directors of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

Law

Thomas S. Cargill has joined Shutts & Bowen’s Orlando office as a partner in the Business Litigation Practice Group.

Submit professional appointments, management-level promotions and significant awards for individuals, along with photos as .jpg attachments, to peopleonmove@orlandosentinel.com.

By Olivia Chen | NerdWallet

Whether you have done it before or you’re new to the process, applying for a small-business loan can be frustrating and difficult to navigate. In the Federal Reserve’s 2023 Small-Business Credit Survey, over half of business owners who reported feeling discouraged from applying for funding cited lender requirements as the reason. With large banks in particular, a difficult application process was one of the top challenges borrowers faced, second only to high interest rates.

To help shed light on the process, we spoke with two small-business lending professionals — who together have nearly four decades of experience working with small businesses — about the funding process, what lenders are looking for and how business owners can approach lenders.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Learn more about each lender after the questions.

What components of a business’s financials do lenders look at?

Alexis Dishman (small business chief lending officer at Community Reinvestment Fund): Each small-business lender will vary, but many will look at the last several years of revenue to get a sense of how the business has performed. For example, is revenue going up? If not, is there a reason for the decline? A lender may use this information to evaluate growth projections for the business to ensure that they’re achievable and ultimately support the repayment of the potential loan. read more

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and its two NASA astronaut passengers cannot come home yet, but officials said a decision could come next week on when they could make their return to Earth.

“I think we’re starting to close in on those final pieces of the flight rationale to make sure that we can come home safely,” NASA Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich said during a media update Thursday.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the International Space Station on June 6 — one day after launching in Starliner atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. They’re flying on the Crew Flight Test mission, the first human spaceflight for Starliner as part of Boeing’s efforts to play catchup and join SpaceX to provide rides to and from the ISS from the U.S.

While it was originally targeting an eight-day stay on board the ISS, the duo have now been on the station more than 50 days as Boeing and NASA work through issues found during the flight up with both helium leaks and failed thrusters on Starliner’s propulsion system. The earliest Starliner could leave the ISS would likely be mid-September. read more

Chapter 11

Central Florida individuals and businesses that have filed for reorganization and protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code include:

Soul Quest Church of Mother Earth Inc., doing business as Soul Quest Ayahuasca Church of Mother Earth Inc., 1371 Hancock Lone Palm Road, Orlando. Filed: July 15. Assets: $100,001- $500,000. Liabilities: $1,000,001-$10 million. Major creditors: Not available. Creditors meeting: Aug. 13.

99 Bottles Hospitality LLC, 712 E. New Haven Ave., Melbourne. Filed: July 17. Assets: $0-$50,000. Liabilities: $1,000,001-$10 million. Major creditors: Not available. Creditors meeting: Aug. 12.

First Health Winter Springs LLC, 5860 Red Bug Lake Road, Winter Springs. Filed: July 19. Assets: $33,832. Liabilities: $594,351. Major creditors: U.S. Small Business Administration, Atlanta, $350,000; Citizens Bank Acclivity Financial, Greensboro, Ga., $144,877; Small Business Financial Solutions, Bethesda,  Md., $37,132. Creditors meeting: Aug. 19. read more

A haunted house will have an all-female lineup of monsters at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines will feature familiar names from very old school films in unusual alliances.

Universal will have Countess Marya (aka Dracula’s daughter), the She-Wolf of London, the Bride of Frankenstein, undead Egyptian princess Anck-Su-Namun and Saskia Van Helsing in the house.

The house, which Universal announced Thursday, features the countess seeking revenge for her father’s death — at the hands of Abraham Van Helsing — and teaming up with She-Wolf and the princess. Meanwhile, Saskia Van Helsing, daughter of Abraham, is helped by the Bride of Frankenstein. A Universal graphic shows the monsters armed with knives, axes, claws and scowls.

The characters are inspired by 1936’s “Dracula’s Daughter” film, “She-Wolf of London” (1946) and the 1932 version of “The Mummy.”

Universal: New ‘unlimited’ Florida-resident ticket allows entry through mid-December read more