Guest Editorial: Invest in your local community

We are a strong community.  We have experienced many challenges over the years including our current pandemic. We will survive this challenge; and not only that – we will become stronger for it. We do this by helping one another, and by staying strong.

As we move forward in the next few days and weeks, I encourage you to invest your energy and your investments in your own community by shopping at local grocery stores, drug stores and other places of business. When you invest in your community, you invest in something more than yourself. Locally owned businesses build strong communities by sustaining vibrant town centers, connecting neighbors in a web of economic and social relationships, and contributing to local causes.

Compared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local economy, they create more jobs locally and, in some cases provide better wages than chains do.

Here’s some things you can do:

Order Takeout or Delivery: Your favorite restaurants may have had to shut their doors, but many of them still offer takeout or delivery. Plan your menu for the week including a local restaurant.

Purchase Gift Cards:  Do you want to inject some cash into a small business right now?  Call your favorite local store or eatery and purchase a gift card; it’s a vote of confidence for when life returns to normal.

Shop Local Businesses Online: Many of our local businesses have online stores in addition to their brick-and-mortar locations. Check out their face book page to see what items are in the store or give them a call, they may have something you can’t live without! 

I’m a fan of shopping local whenever I can, keep in mind that as long as you are buying from someone in your community, you’re helping to keep people in their jobs. 

 Say Thank You: When you do go to the grocery store be sure to say thanks to the employees who are hard at work stocking shelves.  

Most importantly -Stay home if you are sick, call someone and ask them to pick up what you need and ask them to leave it on the porch or someplace safe where you can safely retrieve it.  

If we all pull together – we can make a difference. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa.