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Publisher's Note: Saving a buck
By Jody Reese
We have come to expect the business community to support local charities, especially in New Hampshire where traditionally our state and town governments have played a smaller role in supporting the arts and social services.
Locally owned and operated businesses are some of the most generous, but as the number of those businesses slowly recedes in the face of competition with big box stores, support for charities erodes. National companies do give to charities but they tend to do so in the communities where their corporate headquarters are based. Unfortunately, southern New Hampshire, while home to many large companies, is not home to many large company headquarters.
It can be tough getting people to shop local. But consider: you might save $25 by shopping at a home repair chain rather than the local hardware store, but you might just be paying that $25 back out in higher taxes to have the government do the work charities once did with the support of that small hardware store. Of course, it’s impossible to shop local for everything (and frankly some national chains do a great job of giving locally).
But it’s important to ask ourselves: are we really saving by going to a national chain? If you are doing business with a large national chain, ask them what they do to support their local community. It never hurts to remind them they’re our neighbors.
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