MARSHALL — Last Friday, Brian Kor, the owner of AP Design, called his customers — small businesses — and told them to hang in there.

He didn’t just offer words of encouragement. He offered a plan, however small, he said, to help keep them open, their employees working and their names out in the public.

For $20, anyone can buy a T-shirt that says “Mike’s Cafe” or “Fuzzy’s” and $10 goes to the business.

“By Saturday (April 4) afternoon the site went live,” said Kor. “Within 15 minutes we had orders.” The Gambler was the first business to come on board. As of Friday morning, $2,480 has been raised — half of which will be distributed to participating small businesses.

“The next few months will be a struggle for all of us,” Kor says on the website, https://stores.apdesignpro.com/hereforgoodMN. “This online merch store by AP Design is here to not only provide you with a cool T-shirt from your favorite local establishment, but also to help them during this difficult time. Each T-shirt purchased gives $10 to the local business and helps us to be able to keep printing tees.”

The effort is called “Here for Good,” Kor said in an interview by phone. It’s a good cause and the name also reflects his hope that small businesses can ride out the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis.

In his phone calls, Kor asked the business owners to pass on the offer through word of mouth, social media, newspapers and radio — “to market themselves in whatever way they can.”

The sales associate for AP Design, Christian Guenther, is the one who brought this idea to Kor’s attention.

“He’s the driving force behind this,” said Kor. “We’re adapting it for our state.”

The T-shirts will be printed at no cost to the business and there will not be a minimum order, but shirt designs with order volume of less than 24 shirts per week will be delayed until 24 pieces are ordered, according to the website. The more shirts purchased, the faster the shirts are shipped. AP Design will print orders on a weekly basis.

The program is currently offered through the end of April.

“But if it needs to go beyond that we will,” Kor said.

Kor said the T-shirts are made of high quality material.

“They’re really soft T-shirts,” he said.

To keep costs down for AP Design, the T-shirts have a minimalistic design.

“We’ll just have one color (per business) and one imprint,” he said.

From the website, the business representative can sign up and attach a file of the logo.

Kor hopes to take this program statewide.

“I’m excited about its potential,” he said. “I’m hoping people will share the website and have it roll out around the state.”