|
‘The 3/50 Project - Support and Save Independently Owned Businesses’
To The Editor
As a small business owner in Swedesboro,
NJ, I’d like to express my observations with respect to buying locally
which supports the economy within our communities.
Due to the current economic situation
nationwide, ‘keeping it local’ needs to become a major part of everyone’s
purchasing trends and habits. Without your support, local businesses will
not succeed and municipalities will not reap the benefits of cash flow
back into their communities.
The convenience of having such a diverse
selection of unique, one-of-a-kind options all within minutes of your home
makes local mom and pop shops invaluable.
On Wednesday, Jan. 13 I attended the
Greater Swedesboro Business Association’s monthly meeting. Among various
topics discussed that evening was ‘The 3/50 Project’, conceived in early
March of 2009 by Cinda Baxter
of
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Baxter is a retail consultant and
professional speaker (Always
Upward) whose
mission is to strengthen independent brick and mortar businesses.
She
has taken the buy-local creed across the country from Lake Havasu City,
Arizona to Hoboken. "It's really an investment program," Baxter said.
Customers are investing their dollars in locally owned businesses, which,
in turn, improves their customer service.
Her
background of having spent 14 years as a successful retail store
owner afforded her to “get it” from the inside out, and she felt an
obligation to pay forward the hard earned knowledge and expertise that
brought her to where she is today, the founder of ‘The 3/50 Project’.
With her written permission I would like to
share the concept of ‘The 3/50 Project’ so that not only other small
business owners but consumers will understand the importance of buying
locally - ‘saving the brick and mortars our nation is built on’.
Save your local economy…3 stores at a
time.
The 3/50 Project, saving the brick and
mortars our nation is built on 3 - think about which three independently
owned businesses you’d miss most if they were gone. Stop in and say hello.
Pick up a little something that will make someone smile. Your contribution
is what keeps those businesses around.
50 - If just half of the U.S. population
spent $50 each month in independently owned businesses, their purchases
would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue (employment statistics
courtesy U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2/6/2009, 68/43 courtesy Civic
Economics study, 2008). Imagine the positive impact if three quarters of
the employed population did that.
68 – for every $100 spent in independently
owned stores, $68 dollars returns to the community through taxes, payroll
and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43
stays here. Spend it online and nothing comes home.
1 – the number of people it takes to start
the trend…you.
Pick 3. Spend 50. Save your local economy.
I urge consumers along with all
independently locally owned businesses to go to the website
www.the350project.net. The above information can be downloaded,
printed out and handed to customers.
Baxter said, “The flyers work best when
handed directly to customers with their purchase or receipt, not stuck in
the bottom of a bag. Look them in the eye, smile, and tell them thanks for
coming into a locally owned business. Everyone likes to feel appreciated.
It’s that easy”.
The website is a wealth of information, is
easy to navigate through and has an ‘In The Media’ section with relative
articles and newscasts from The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, CNN,
Consumer Reports and The Washington Post to list a few.
In closing, I hope that each person who
takes the time to read this realizes the importance of ‘keeping it local’.
Gloucester County is experiencing an enormous growth spurt with regard to
new businesses along with major improvements to our area.
Downtown Swedesboro has been transformed
into a beautiful, revamped small town U.S.A. with many completed projects,
improvements and more changes on the way. As a local business owner I am
proud to be a part of this transformation and am looking forward to
providing the best locally in upscale consignment with your support and
patronage.
Please remember - it starts with you.
Dru
Westenberger, Co-Owner
One More Time…A Unique Consignment Boutique
Swedesboro
To The Editor,
I am writing in response to your unofficial
monthly poll entitled, “To Lessen Future Overcrowding – Should Logan
Students remain in KRHS?”
As a long-time resident of Logan Township,
(1982), I was shocked and disappointed you choose to conduct a poll on an
issue that was voted on and resolved back in the mid-1990s.
Because the communities your newspaper
serves, namely Swedesboro, Woolwich, Logan, East Greenwich, Mullica Hill,
Auburn and Harrisonville areas, have seen tremendous growth and expansion
in the past ten years, many new residents may be unaware of the embittered
history surrounding this issue. I feel obligated to inform these new
residents of the extensive background before more articles and Letters to
the Editor begin to appear in the NewTown Press.
Going back to the 1930s, Logan Township
sent its students to both Paulsboro High School and the old Swedesboro
High School. If you lived on the Swedesboro/Woolwich side of Route 130,
you were sent to Swedesboro HS. If you lived on the Delaware River side
of Route 130, you attended Paulsboro HS. Because Logan Twp is a divided
township that includes areas on both sides of Route 130, this plan
resulted in dividing our students between these two schools.
Eventually as the region grew, Swedesboro
HS became Kingsway Regional HS to service surrounding districts. Logan
Township was not included in regionalization at that time, probably due to
the very small amount of students sent to KRHS from Logan.
In the 1980s and 1990s, however; that
changed. With the growth of the Beckett community in Logan, the number of
students sent to KRHS from Logan increased dramatically contributing to a
growing overcrowding problem. Because Logan was not regionalized in KRHS
and were tuition-based senders, KRHS addressed the possibility of removing
Logan Township students in an effort to reduce overcrowding and costs.
It was a heated and difficult time that
resulted in many emotional school board meetings and editorials written to
this paper. In both Logan and the Kingsway sending districts, there were
strong feelings for and against regionalization as well as for and against
removal of Logan completely. In the end, however, regionalized
communities of KRHS and Logan Township were asked to vote on the issue.
Regionalized communities of KRHS voted not
to include Logan Township students in the regionalization of KRHS. Logan
residents voted to continue to send their students to KRHS on a
tuition-basis. These votes are final, binding and still in effect. And
according to the law, cannot be changed without formal petitioning to and
approval by the State of New Jersey.
Almost fifteen years has passed since that
tumultuous time. Now here we are, once again in the midst of a huge growth
spurt in our area. However, unlike the 1990s and contrary to the bias of
this paper, the residential growth in our community has now shifted to the
sending districts that are regionalized with KRHS. While
conversely, Logan’s growth has stabilized.
Based on the current enrollment of KRHS and
Kingsway Regional Middle School and their projected increase over the next
four years, it is irresponsible to imply, through an unofficial poll, that
the percentage of students sent from Logan are a cause for needed
expansion; and furthermore, that the removal of Logan students could
possibly be a logical solution. I feel the recent poll and article in the
New Town Press is nothing more than a feeble attempt to stir up bad
feelings and place blame when instead we should be working together to
provide our children with the best education possible.
To all new or young parents living in these
growing communities, I strongly advise you to get involved and stay
involved. Attend school board meetings, planning board meetings and
council meetings. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion and be sure to
stay up-to-date on what is happening. I moved to Logan when it was a new
and growing community, and twenty years later I am proud I stayed involved
and proud of our growth.
In closing, please stay informed and learn
your facts, so the next time a bias and unofficial poll appears in your
local paper asking you to vote on an issue you know to be resolved and
closed, you can dismiss it.
Kathy Convery, Logan Township
We
welcome you to submit letters to our editor. Anonymous letters
will not be printed. All letters must be signed with an individual's
name and the town they live in.
Click
here: to submit your Letter to the Editor
|
