5 Ways to Support Your Local Community
Supporting your community means supporting your way of life. Things wouldn’t be the same without the delicious locally grown strawberries you look forward to picking every year, that cool record store on the corner, or the people who make your community special.
It’s easy to support your community! Continue reading to learn how.
Buy your groceries at farmers’ markets
Not only are nutrients from local foods more potent, farmers receive way more profit when you buy from them direct.
American farmers receive as low as 7.8 cents of every dollar Americans spend on food, but when we buy from them at local farmers markets, they receive 90 cents on the dollar. Greater profits keep more local farmers in business, thus increasing their ability to offer employment opportunities and boost their own local spending.
Write love notes and tell your friends.
Word-of-mouth marketing is alive and well. In fact, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over advertising, according to Nielsen.
Furthermore, 23% of online shoppers are influenced by social media recommendations, so taking to the time to write a Facebook review or telling your friend about a funky local shop is a great way to boost the local economy.
Shop small
Before heading to a chain retailer, consider visiting a small, locally owned business first. For every dollar spent locally, 68 cents stays in your community, whereas for every dollar spent at a non-local (chain) store, just 43 cents stays within your community.
What that means is shopping at a locally owned small business generates almost four times as much economic benefit for your community than shopping at a chain retailer, including an increase in jobs.
According to the Small Business Administration, about 63% of new jobs opportunities between 1993 and mid 2013 were created by small businesses.
You’re also likely to enjoy better customer service!
Support Rootastes’ Crowdfunding Campaign
At Rootastes, corporate wellness is at the root of what we do. We support our Greater Boston community with healthy lunches delivered right to your office, prepared with locally grown ingredients. Farm to office at its finest!
We want our lunches to reach more people, leading to better health and higher company profits in more places. Our dream is to purchase a catering van that will allow us to transport food more effectively to your team, improve our ordering system that will lead to increased efficiency and ease of use, and to grow the size of our team.
Learn more about our crowdfunding campaign with iFund Women here.
Give back
Whether donating your time at a local charity, cleaning up your neighborhood, supporting community events, or even voting, you are giving back to your community. Even though no money changes hands, getting involved and volunteering your time builds up to a huge impact.
Supporting your community means improving the local economy, the wellbeing of all, and everything that makes your community special.
Meet Rootasters:
Meg is a dreamer, entrepreneur, and homesteader based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She loves her cats, feasting, and road trips in her green VW Bug.