Are you part of the 3/50 Project?

    

Have you heard the buzz about the 3/50 Project? It's been in all the local papers, on tv, the radio and now has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter! 

The 3/50 Project pulls the solution for our economic problems away from Wall Street ... and even Washington DC ... and puts the power to recover what's been lost in the hands of the people on the street ... customers of all the independent stores across the country.

As explained on the 3/50 website ... the idea is for each of us to commit $50 each month and spend it at three locally owned businesses that you would miss if they closed. It might mean buying your groceries from Kowalkski's instead of Rainbow ... or getting Spring plants at Linders and Bachman's instead of WalMart ... or how about this one ... whether  you buy your quilting supplies from Joann's or go to Rosebud's or Bear Patch  ... or any of the other independent quilting stores in the Twin Cities.

Given the wide variations in the amount of corporate input and support among the thousands of franchise and chain operations around the country, The 3/50 Project supports one very specific, very unique business model—that of the independent business who does not have the benefit of a nationally recognized brand name.

I love their definition of an independent business ... someone who sleeps little, eats on the run, balances their checkbook over the breakfast table, combs through order forms in bed at night, and is capable of sorting invoices, signing paychecks, fielding questions, responding to emails, and faxing confirmations while simultaneously explaining to a new employee how to check in UPS. Wow ... that sounds like me (as I sit in bed writing this post)!

The concept of 3/50 has obviously been going through the minds of lots of people across the country. Mark Lipinski in his editor's letter in the April/May issue of Quilter's Home hits the nail on the head. He points out that if quilters don't support their LQShops, they might wake up one morning and find their favorite one gone. Pick up a copy (at your LQS instead of the chain) and read all about it.

So what do you think? I know I have fifty bux that I'm going to dedicate to a couple of stores I love. How about you?   Are you going to become a supporter of the 3/50 Project?