Invest in Your Community

I have the good fortune to be a part of the My Marinette Menominee Movement and am proud of the work we are doing to build a more vibrant community.  Today I would like to challenge you to invest in our community.  I am not asking you to spend more than you are currently spending: I am asking you to use your dollars in a way that benefits our neighbors and neighborhoods. 

When you make an online purchase, your dollars are stripped from our local coffers forever.  Alternatively, when you purchase goods and services in Marinette County or Menominee County, your dollars recycle over and over again providing needed fuel for our M & M economy. 

The best way to ensure the economic health of our region and the businesses within it is to support local businesses and organizations.  Please make the conscious choice to utilize the professionals, suppliers, and resources here at home.  The folks who own and operate our businesses are the lifeblood of this great community.  We volunteer, donate, mentor, sit on committees and boards, and invest in our community in a myriad of ways. 

Please look at everything you currently buy online, from insurance to cleaning supplies.  Take the time to learn who the local providers are.  Whether you are buying for your household or for a large employer or organization, make the choices that will strengthen our local economy. 

Multi-million dollar advertising campaigns aim to convince us that shopping online is a good idea, but the consequences of those actions can be devastating to our local businesses.  Your choice to buy everything you can locally will be the catalyst for a stronger community.  By adding your dollars to the economy, you break down the barriers for entrepreneurs who want to open new businesses or expand existing businesses.  A broader base of goods and services will add to our quality of life.  Stronger companies will lead to higher wages.  Stronger tax rolls will lead to improved services.  And so on.

In creating a more vibrant community, you can benefit from a more robust region and will enjoy a better place to live.  We hope to entice our youth to stay here and our talent to remain here.  We are lucky to live in one of the greatest places in the nation.  Please join with me and invest in the health of this great community. 

Proud local business supporter, Kim Brooks

MyMarinetteMenominee Blog