For restaurants, the start of the year has been disastrous. But they weren’t entirely surprised, because even in calm years, the first few weeks are slow. “January just sucks,” says Kiauna “Kee” Nelson, owner of food cart Kee’s #Loaded Kitchen, in Northeast Portland. “Nothing sucks like January.”

But the storm, which stretched over two weekends, left some businesses closed for half the month. “I don’t fight the weather,” wrote Kim Jong Grillin' owner Han Ly Hwang, encouraging his peers to stay safe and wait it out. “There’s no medal for opening your business in this weather,” he continued, sharing his own previous experience left twiddling his thumbs in an empty cart. “No one comes out.”

The closures left many with minimal cash on hand and some with storm damage, like an Olympia Provisions production facility that flooded, while others were laid out by the financial burden of losing two weeks’ revenue. In a business with slim margins, the financial sting of unexpected closures lingers for restaurateurs and service industry workers alike.

To be sure, diners historically pause on eating out after the bank account–draining holidays, leaving even the toughest tables in town empty. But the double whammy has left many on the brink. Industry members sent an account of storm-related financial losses to Tina Kotek in a public letter. If you’re not directly involved in the industry, and you don’t have a Scrooge McDuck–sized fortune to spread around, it’s hard to know how to help. Here’s how.

1.     Hype Your Favorite Spots Online. “Shout us out on Instagram or Facebook,” Nelson says. “That’s free. Go take a photo and post it on your page.” Leaving a Google or Yelp review, or buzzing about your favorite restaurants and food carts on social media really does bring in customers.

 2. Get a Cookie or Drink or Snack. “I think small things matter,” says Joel Gunderson, cofounder and sommelier of the Northeast Portland wine bar Heavenly Creatures. “Grab a lunch date. Grab a quick midweek drink and snacks. Don’t break the bank but treat yourself in small ways. Those small ways add up for operators.”

3. Consider an Event or Catering. If you or your employer will soon be hosting a party, call up your favorite restaurant and see about catering. “Catering is huge for us,” says Café Olli co-owner Taylor Manning. “Café sales cover labor and expenses, and then the events are really where the profit comes in.”

4. Do as the Restaurateur Asks. Before the storm, Le Pigeon and Canard chef Gabe Rucker (Ed note: he’s my former employer) posted a video on Instagram calling attention to the perennial dip in business, to which his tiny, award-winning restaurant is not immune. He shouted out three restaurants he wanted to try soon, and asked others to do the same. Nearly 400 commenters tagged their favorite spots, and a similar wave of posts followed in the weeks after the storm. Han Ly Hwang raffled off gift cards—to his own cart and other restaurants—via Instagram to help folks get through the challenging few weeks. Simply participating makes a huge difference.

During the storm, Nelson shut off her food cart’s gas, water, and exhaust and camped out at home in Beaverton for two weeks. Past years paying exorbitant plumbing bills to fix burst pipes and cracked water heaters have her following the weather close enough to have a favorite local meteorologist—Mark Nelson (no relation, I don’t think), from Fox 12, though she’s keen on this “new, hip, cool, attention-grabbing meteorologist” on Koin 6. “Sometimes you just gotta chill,” she says. But when you can make it out, “come see us!”