Little People, Big World star Matt Roloff kept his farm going through the pandemic with a $53k government loan
LITTLE People, Big World star Matt Roloff has kept his famous farm running during the pandemic with the help of a $53k government loan, The Sun can exclusively reveal.
Savvy dad-of-four Matt, 59, has successfully kept his 110-acre Roloff Farms operating over the past year despite the Coronavirus pandemic devastating tens of thousands of similar US businesses.
An online public document obtained by The Sun shows on April 20, 2020, The Roloff Company (Corporation) of Hillsboro, Oregon was granted a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan from Wells Fargo Bank for $53,841.
The info says “100 per cent” of that money went towards the payroll of the farm’s employees.
Matt’s son Zach, 30, who he shares with ex-wife Amy, works on the farm giving private tours and helping with maintenance.
At least two other staff are believed to be employed there.
The Sun reached out to the farm and Little People, Big World makers TLC for comment.
Fans of the TLC show know how hard Matt and his staff work tirelessly to keep the farm in working order all year round.
It reportedly is visited by at least 30,000 people a year the times it is open to the public and its Halloween Pumpkin Patch event is incredibly popular.
The Roloff patriarch, who has four grandkids, has a good reason for wanting to save the family farm.
Not only does he have dreams of passing the farm on to his children and grandchildren, he has recently revealed architectural plans to build his “dream home” on the property.
The reality star has been busy in recent months undergoing various building works at the farm, including constructing a new log cabin.
Matt also owns a home in Arizona that he shares with his longtime girlfriend and former farm manager Caryn Chandler, 53, who he has dated since 2017 after working with her for the best part of a decade.
His PPP loan savvy also benefits his ex-wife Amy, 56, who still shares ownership of part of the property and business and is listed as “secretary” on official documents.
Matt and Amy, who married in 1987 and split in 2016, bought the farm as a fixer upper back in 1990 for just $185k.
The Sun has told how she finally moved out of the farm in February last year and sold her 32 acres of the farm to Matt last August for $975k.
Amy has also moved personally on with her fiancé, realtor Chris Marek.
It is not known if the PPP loan discussions make it into any of the upcoming episodes of Little People, Big World.
LPBW, which started in 2006, is also one of the longest running reality shows on television, outlasting even Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
The first round of the PPP was a $953billion government loan funded under the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) and distributed through bank loan applications with major lenders.
It was signed into law by President Trump on March 27, 2020, and set out to aid struggling businesses and prevent the massive layoffs of employees.
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To receive the money, businesses had to show a loss and prove some hardship due to the pandemic.
The complicated paperwork alone reportedly kept many businesses from applying for the forgivable loan.