Editor:
When a business fails in Sweet Home, I think about the owner and his or her family and how that impacts their lives.
Will they recover after losing such a large investment? Will they lose their home? Did they move away? How does this impact our community?
The truth is one failure has a large impact on this community, causing a ripple effect – unemployment, heartache, even depression, perhaps bankruptcy, and a vacant home. Unfortunately there are more than a few buildings left empty. When our Sweet Home businesses thrive so do we as a community. We all understand the motto – Shop Local, but do we?
Our Sweet Home High School has some of the best coaches and teachers in the country. I applaud their methods of teaching healthy competition, but also pride in doing their best and respecting the talent of the competing teams.
Many of our high school students are not only good athletes; they are also high academic achievers. These same great kids have just witnessed the demise of large corporations, small and large businesses and banks because of corruption and greed spurred by unfettered competition and out of control egos.
I’m not in any way referring to Sweet Home businesses which I respect and hold in high regard. We are a hard-working community all trying to withstand difficult economic times. I envision Sweet Home emerging as a truly sweet home by coming together for the good of all – our community motto could be “one for all and all for one Sweet Home business.”
Sweet Home could become the “model community” that others want to emulate. We have a huge opportunity because of our small size. It’s so clear now that it’s our hearts that connect us and our egos that divide us. Putting egos aside is the answer because from this comes creative solutions, reconciliation and healing.
I propose that we come together in a forum to discuss ways to prop up our businesses with events, such as the coming Kiwanis – Sweet Home, Sweet Ride Charity Car Show for Kids, which will be held on June 27 with the generous support of the Rotary, the chamber, the Kiwanis Key Club. Still more clubs, organizations and private individuals are coming on board. We welcome you all!
Our Poker Walk is devised purposely to bring the community and people outside of our community into our Sweet Home shops and businesses to introduce them to what Sweet Home offers. You can help make this event a Sweet Home success just by attending our show and participating in the Poker Walk.
What if we take competition and turn it into cooperation and emulate the great lessons our high school students are learning. The success of Sweet Home depends on the success of each business. If we, as a community, help each individual business succeed, we are helping achieve our own success.
We can do surveys of local residents to find out what it would take for them to shop at certain stores and make changes, alter pricing, offer more services, or carry more items people want to buy.
We can have more events and shows highlighting the specific items or services that our businesses are offering here in Sweet Home. I have lots of ideas and I’m sure you do as well. Let’s share them with each other.
If you’re interested or have more ideas that would help, come to the Kiwanis club meetings on Wednesdays at noon at the senior center, join the Rotary, join the chamber or come to its meetings or after hours events. You can also send me an e-mail to [email protected].
Susan Angland
Sweet Home