Why Local: Community

At the end of the day, Keep Local Alive is about enriching our relationships and our communities.

COMING TOGETHER FOR ONE-ANOTHER

When the pandemic first hit, it was people who came together to save their local businesses. Communities worked with one-another to preserve what they cared most about. We are just facilitating that process for each community. It is your enthusiasm and love for your local communities that make the movement work.

[W]hen a community is in crisis, it is [locally-owned, independent businesses] who will step up and help their communities back on their feet.

Unlike big-box chains, the relationship between locally-owned small businesses and their community is much closer. As we mentioned when talking about the economic impacts of LIOBs, these businesses proportionately donate more to local causes, libraries, school fundraisers, etc. This means, that when a community is in crisis, it is LOIBs who will step up and help their communities back on their feet.

PAYING IT FORWARD

We saw this exact scenario take place in Texas, just weeks ago. Ari Isufaj and Blinera Shurreca, co-owners of Bella Italian Restaurant, could not bear to see their community suffering, so they gave hot meals to over 500 community members.

Isufaj told Fox News that it was his loyal customers who helped the restaurant stay afloat during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. And when he found himself without power at home, using his restaurant’s pizza ovens to stay warm, he decided to pay it forward.

These are the sort of gestures that only come from local businesses, where the owners don’t only know the community but are also part of it. Supporting a locally-owned, independent business is not just supporting them as a business. It’s building up your own community. In many ways, it’s supporting your own best interest.

When you take our pledge, you’re not just pledging to help a business or some stranger. You’re pledging to work harder for your community and improving it with one simple move.