Speckles was running loose in Hailey and brought to the shelter for safe keeping. Surprisingly, no one ever came to claim this adorable young lad. He is a very cute and friendly dog who hasn’t received much training yet. This young, strong boy has lots of energy and should blossom in a good home with positive training. He would benefit most from an experienced dog owner who will show him the ways of the world and become his benevolent leader. At the shelter, Speckles is playful with the other dogs, but sometimes he gets a bit pushy and dominant. He is basically a big, unruly puppy who just needs some boundaries and consistency in his life. This handsome, speckled pup is looking to start a new life and find a home that will last forever this time. Speckles is a medium size neutered male Heeler Am Staff Terrier mix born around December 2007.

Blackie was found in Ketchum running in traffic. Although she had a collar with “Blackie” hand written on it, no one came to claim her. Blackie loves people and wants attention so badly, she is under-foot and literally manages to get you to trip over her! Blackie is a classic diamond-in-the-rough dog. She has had little training her short little life and just seems desperate for affection & attention. Blackie has so much love and energy and just looking for somewhere to vent it. It is our belief that with some consistency, training, regular exercise and love, Blackie will be a fabulous and dedicated companion. Blackie seems to like other dogs. Once she gets comfortable with a new canine friend, she’ll play a bit wildly. At the shelter, she did not show much interest in cats, but that may not be the case once she becomes more comfortable and gains a little more confidence. She is a very friendly dog, but because of her high energy level, she might be a bit much for a family with small children. If you are looking to make a big difference in a special dog’s life, come meet Miss Blackie. Blackie is a medium size spayed female German Shepherd mix born around November 2007.

The Idaho State University College of Business Informatics Research Institute and National Information Assurance Training and Education Center have received a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, announced Corey Schou, Ph.D., ISU professor of informatics and associate dean of information systems at the College of Business.

The IRI/NIATEC received the grant to continue their “scholarship for service” program, conducted in partnership with the U.S. government.

The IRI is an interdisciplinary academic program at ISU established by the university and the Idaho State Board of Education to foster sharing and research synergy across campus. It is currently supporting research in computer security, information assurance, anthropology and education, among other disciplines.

ISU received the first half of the funding effective in November; the second half will be distributed later. Students in the special program receive a full scholarship for two years; participate in specialized learning opportunities and spend at least one semester in an internship, usually in Washington, D.C.

Upon completion of their degrees, the students take positions in information assurance with the federal government. All applicants must be U.S. Citizens. The continuing support from the NSF reinforces the strong academic and research reputation of the IRI/ NIATEC program, for which there is currently a waiting list.

In other news from the College of Business, Schou, recently attended conferences in Korea and Saudi Arabia. Schou is the director of the IRI and NIATEC at ISU.

At the two-day Secure Asia conference in Seoul in October, Schou joined other global information security leaders to discuss the most up-to-date information security technologies and management strategies, with special focus on new technologies and regulatory compliance issues. Hundreds of information security professionals from throughout the Pacific Rim attended.

In Seoul, ISU IRI research professor Howard Schmidt delivered the keynote address. He spoke about the growth of risks worldwide based on his experience as the cyber security advisor at the White House. The second-day keynote by Schou was entitled “Designing secure systems from the ground up – making shared systems more robust.”

In November, Schou was a guest of the Saudi government and the distinguished keynote speaker at the inauguration of Center of Excellence in Information Assurance at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The inaugural ceremony was attended by hundreds of security professionals and academics from across the Middle East. It provided background to the attendees, including the Saudi Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Communication, on leading information security research trends in education and awareness.

While on these trips, Schou was active in recruiting students from both Asia and the Middle East to attend ISU. In response, the Saudi government offered to establish scholarships for ISU students to attend King Saud University.

Petey was surrendered to the shelter when his owners had to move and couldn’t take him along. Petey is a wonderful dog. He loves people, and his favorite thing is cuddling. He gets along well with other dogs, but he needs a family with the time for him; someone who can give him the attention he deserves. This big, sweet, handsome fellow is truly wonderful, with a big heart and a warm lick. Petey is a 65 lb black and white neutered male American Staffordshire Terrier mix born around 10/1/04. For more information on Petey and the many other dogs and cats awaiting adoption at the Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley, call 788-4351.

 When you hear about Camp Rainbow Gold, you may hear about silly skits around campfires. You might hear about a child catching their first fish or discovering the Big Dipper in the night sky. Maybe you learn about how volunteers come together for a week each year to help 85 children shrug the stress of living with cancer. No matter the story, you hear – and feel – what happens when people come together to enjoy nature and friendship, to let kids be kids.

But there’s more to Camp Rainbow Gold.

What started as 15 campers has grown to 85. What started as a week has grown into a year-round program that supports and fosters children who have been diagnosed with cancer and their families. Camp Rainbow Gold is an oncology camp, a sibling camp and a family camp.  It’s a hockey night, a football night, a ski day, a teen support group and a college scholarship program. Camp Rainbow Gold is inspiration and unity. Camp Rainbow Gold is a celebration of life.

As the decades progressed and the bonds between Camp Rainbow Gold and the community strengthened, the need for family services and year-round programs became evident. Simply put, one week just wasn’t enough. Just like the children, parents also need a break from the rigors of a cancer diagnosis. Siblings often feel pushed aside and also need validation and encouragement. A Junior Counselor program has grown over the years to provide a natural transition for campers and others who have turned 18 and still want to be a part of the Camp Rainbow Gold family. The original vision has transcended to a year-round program to include camps for siblings and families as well as other support and events throughout the year.

“When a child is diagnosed with cancer, it has a major impact on the entire family, physically, emotionally and financially,” said Childhood and Family Services Director, Elizabeth Lizberg. “Parents will often have to quit their jobs and mortgage their homes in order to have the time and financial means to support their child during treatment.” The stress and emotion of having a sick child can also affect siblings and other family members, often leaving them feeling left out, upset and even angry.

The camps are held each summer north of Ketchum at Camp Perkins and Cathedral Pines.  This past summer Family Camp hosted 17 families, Sibling Camp had 43 campers and Oncology Camp had 85 campers.  Camp Rainbow Gold is at capacity for the oncology camp.   “One of the most exciting changes on the horizon is that in 2010 there will be two weeks of oncology camp” says Lizberg.  “We want to reach more children so we’re adding another week of camp.  The first week will be younger kids and junior counselors and the second week will be ages 13 through 17.  By 2010 there will be about 60 children at each week of camp.” 

The other programs are showing as much success with the college scholarship fund awarding twelve, $5,000 scholarships and a great turn out of 120 children and families to the Halloween party.  The newest program Survivors Supporting Survivors support group for teens has been developed by young adult cancer survivors that have been involved with Camp Rainbow Gold for many years.  They understand that being a teen is difficult but being a teen diagnosed with cancer is even tougher. The first Wednesday, each month, an informal get together lets teen’s ages 13-18 talk about issues, have some fun, discuss the challenges and receive support from those who understand better than anyone.

“We couldn’t have done this without this valley,” Kris Cronin said.  “It really is a charity of the valley.”  Rob Cronin agrees.  “This is a feather in the cap of the Wood River Valley.” Kris and Rob have been volunteers for Camp Rainbow Gold for over eight years.

Upcoming opportunities:

Purchase a raffle ticket for $20 for a chance at winning a trip to Tampa including two tickets to the Super Bowl game.  Drawing is on December 31, 2008 and you do not need to be present to win.  The winning ticket wins a trip to Tampa that includes 3 night hotel stay starting on January 30^th, 2 airline tickets from Boise to Tampa and 2 tickets to the Super Bowl game.  All other costs and expenses are the responsibility of the winner. Tickets are being sold at Zou 75 in Hailey, Sun Valley Brokers in Ketchum and Panache in Sun Valley or call 208-422-0176.

7^th Annual Share Your Heart Ball is on February 28, 2009 at the Sun Valley Inn Limelight Room.  Tickets cost $175 each and there are opportunities to sponsorship or donate to the live and silent auction available. 

Camp Rainbow Gold also graciously accepts in-kind donations and cash donations. For a “wish list,” visit the Web site at www.camprainbowgold.org.

For more information or to volunteer or to be a camper at Camp Rainbow Gold, call (208) 422-0176 or go to the Web site at: www.camprainbowgold.org or send an e-mail to camp.rainbowgold@cancer.org

Cowboy originally came to the shelter as a stray. He was adopted into a loving home, but, sadly, his owner recently passed away. He came back to the shelter for a new home. Cowboy is a big, friendly, outgoing, handsome teddy bear of a grey Tabby-Manx. He is large, but proportional and very active and agile. Typical of a Manx, Cowboy was born without a tail and a congenital malformation of his lumbar vertebrae. So, while he is a truly wonderful cat and well worth it, he might need a little special attention due to the shortened spine. Cowboy is a normal cat in every other way. He is extremely loving, affectionate, and full of personality… just a great cat! Come meet him and watch him try to steal your heart! Cowboy is a 16 lb neutered male DSH grey tabby Manx born around 9/12/04.

Garfield was once a loved family member, but circumstances changed, and he found himself at the Shelter. As his name suggests, Garfield is a big, handsome, wonderful, orange and white fluff ball. He is loving, kind and a real personality. When you walk into the Shelter, Garfield will greet you with a meow-hello, though it’s not like you would miss seeing this gorgeous guy without it. Garfield deserves a “forever home” he can count on for a lifetime. Let Garfield warm up your home with his loving presence — He is not to be missed! He is a medium size, neutered male Domestic Long Hair born around DOB March 2002. NOVEMBER IS CAT ADOPTION MONTH!!!!

Update: I have referenced this post in a couple of recent seminars and it continues to be one of the most popular blog posts so I have updated information below since this was originally posted nearly 2 years ago.

I’m a fan of Top 10 lists (maybe it’s my first name) so when I was asked to come up with a list of actionable recommendations for those attending the Hailey Chamber Business Round Table on Internet Marketing, I thought a top 10 list would be a good way to convey it. I recapped the first session that looked at the dramatic changes in consumer behavior that have taken place in the last 10 years and thus why businesses that don’t update their marketing plans are bound to waste a lot of their marketing spend. So here’s a summary of the recommendations I discussed with the attendees of the Business Round Table sans the commentary on people’s specific business challenges. That interactivity is what made the session most interesting for me but this list should be useful as well.

1. Fish where the fish are – The Internet is the #1 or 2 most used medium surpassing all but even TV (it has been #1 with both Business Decision Makers and people under 35 for nearly 5 years). Take advantage of imbalance between media consumption and spend to stretch your dollars. A typical business in our Valley spent less than 1% of their advertising online yet over 3040% of their customers time is spent with the Internet.
2. Internet Advertising is working – Unlike the dotcom era, the most discriminating and biggest advertisers in the world have shifted major portion of their budget to online resulting in 30% year over year growth for Internet advertising vs. essentially flat or declining for other mediums. E.g., Procter & Gamble (the largest advertiser) shifted 15% of their TV advertising to online.
3. “Daytime is primetime” for the Internet – i.e., the Internet is the only medium that reaches a critical mass of people during the workday if you want to reach people during lunch, when they are on their way home, etc.. Corollary: take advantage of what’s unique for each medium. That is, every medium has its own advantages (e.g., magazines visuals are great for high fashion).
4. Stephen Covey “Begin with the end in mind” – Being clear on your goals make for much more effective marketing whether in print, online ads or website development. E.g., is your goal brand awareness, referrals, open house visits, etc. The Internet can be like a Swiss Army Knife and can do several things. You need to be clear on what it should do for you business.
5. Learn from Hansel & Gretel – Leave breadcrumbs to get people to you and your website. Here are a few search optimization rules of thumb – 1)know the high frequency keywords you want to “own” (see http://inventory.overture.com for those terms that are high frequency) and incorporate those terms into your header, headlines, metatags, text, URLs – analyze whether it’s worth paying for placement 2)frequently updated sites get indexed much more often (a key benefit of blogs) 3)have high traffic/pagerank sites link to your site (e.g., SunValleyOnline is a high traffic website, your business partners may have substantial traffic, etc.). [Note: Search Engine Optimization techniques change pretty rapidly so I've listed ones that have stayed relatively stable but it's important to recognize SEO is a journey, not a destination]
6. Lead, don’t follow – The key to standing out is doing something unique whether it’s in sponsorships, advertising, customer service, etc. Realtors may be the most guilty of mimicking their competition vs. doing something unique. In contrast, look at Sherry Daech (well known local realtor for those of you who don’t know her) and how she did some unique things several years back (e.g., being one of the first to have her own website, etc.) that raised her visibility above her competition.
7. Think like Madison Avenue – Maximize the cost effectiveness of your reach and frequency to affect key brand metrics such as brand awareness, brand recall, brand favorability, message association, intent, etc. The best way to keep your ad rates down is to have your media providers competing for your business.
8. When it comes to sponsorships, you can be Visa or Panasonic. Which one do you recall as an Olympic sponsor? See Sponsorship Series to see how you avoid being Panasonic. A rule of thumb is you should spend $1 on advertising for every $1 you spend on media sponsorship in order for people to realize you are a sponsor. Being one of the NASCAR vehicle-like logos is a guarantee to not get noticed by the vast majority of the audience.
9. Once you have your prospects attention, give them incentives to establish a relationship with you via email (e.g., tips, discounts). “Permission marketing” is consistently the most cost effective and reduces your dependence on advertising. You set the tone with your initial responsiveness. Leads coming from the Internet have a short lifespan. Do this before your competition as people generally only sign up for one newsletter per category. This is why SunValleyOnline focused early on building what has become, by far, the largest email subscriber list in the valley (over 11,000) reportedly 10-50x greater than its competition.
10. Help non-profits you support in our community by sharing these tips. Have them read How non-profits benefit from blogs. Many of these tips apply to businesses.

Bonus Tip – Ben Franklin: “When you are finished changing, you’re finished.”

During the talk, I referenced several books. These included the following:
1. The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
2. Naked Conversations by Shel Israel & Robert Scoble
3. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
4. Stephen Covey – several books
5. Life after the 30-second spot by Joseph Jaffe [Later: Joseph's latest book "Join the Conversation" has become a best seller and is also geared towards marketing]
6. Guide to Sponsorship by IEG

Updated with prizes for the September 2, 2007 event and 2006 scholarship winners.
Full disclosure: I’m a member of Rotary so this may be viewed as a shameless promotion of the Rotary :). I’m happy to sell you some Ducks if you are interested. I only joined Rotary relatively recently but had been aware of the Duck Race that happens over the Labor Day weekend (our kids love the event). Though I was aware of the race, quite frankly, I had no clue what its purpose was and who benefited from the proceeds. That changed when I chatted with a Rotarian and he gave me an idea of who benefited. It’s a broad array of organizations but the one that resonated with me was the fact that Rotary was the primary funder of Blaine County Search & Rescue which I believe provides a tremendous asset to the community (one I hope I never have to use!). I looked at my donation to the Duck Race as a sort of deposit in the “Bank of Karma” that I hope I don’t have to take a withdrawal from later. As I had kids and thought about college expenses, Rotary’s extensive scholarship program also struck a chord. Look for Rotarians all over town selling ducks. Look for a large yellow duck walking around town, or at our booth at Atkinson’s market, the farmers markets, Ketchum Alive, The Gallery Walk, during the Wagon Days parade and at our booth on race day.

Later, when I joined Rotary and was asked to help get the word out, I thought that job #1 was simply educating people on where the funds go that are raised. I’m convinced that if people knew where the dollars went, they’d be inclined to give (or give more if they were already giving). Each year, the race nets about $100,000. The money that the club gets is then distributed to worthy non-profits throughout the valley as well as a big chunk going to college scholarships. When I learned this, my hunch was that there were some great stories about those scholarship recipients. I was right.

I asked to get a copy of the scholarship essays and was blown away by some of the stories of the kids who won the scholarships. I thought the essays themselves told the story of each scholarship winner very well. Too often we hear about what’s wrong in the community but these stories tell you some of what’s right in this community. The stories range from a kid losing her mother at a young age and going on to become valedictorian to a blind kid achieving more than most kids with full vision to another coming up with the idea of a scholarship for kids who are the first in their family to go to college. With the scholarship winners’ permission, SunValleyOnline and the local newspapers will be publishing their inspiring stories. Keep an eye out on SunValleyOnline and the newspapers for these stories. As you’ll learn, many of these kids have a tremendous need for additional funds in order to attend college. If you are so inclined, Rotary will facilitate moneys going to either the scholarship endowment Rotary administers or to the specific student.

The links below go to a series of essays from the Rotary Scholarship submissions. The Hailey and Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary Clubs have combined to raise over $650,000.00 in the last 9 years. This year, 10 scholarships were awarded. We thought you’d be interested in what the leaders of tomorrow had to say. Rotary scholarships just pay a portion of a student’s costs and many of the winners have significant financial requirements to pay for their college expenses. Rotary welcomes donations to the Rotary Charitable Foundation or funds directed to a specific scholarship winner to address their needs. Please contact Pete Stommel at 726-3331 to learn more about how to direct your donations.

The following scholarship recipients have been highlighted on SunValleyOnline:

Jozey Mitcham is a 4.0 graduate from Wood River High School who has overcome the loss of her mother and other setbacks yet has been a pillar of strength in striving to reach her goals. Read on for her inspiring story…

Tj Squires hasn’t let blindness hold him back from achieving his goals with the help of some instrumental teachers. As he prepares for the challenges college provides, he states “Now, I have to sink or swim, and I AM a swimmer!”

Thomas Gappmayer’s vision for the direction of his life/career will no doubt be useful with issues such as Blaine County 2025 being present today and in the future. Read more about how he hopes to achieve his vision…

Addy Mason is not only a scholarship winner but she is also going on a Rotary exchange program to Italy next school year to fulfill her passion for languages and travel. Addy was awarded the scholarship based upon a high level of achievement in community service, school and the arts.

As president of the Blaine County Teen Advisory Council, Kelsey Laird has worked with Sun Valley Adaptive Sports as well as pioneered a mentoring program that made it easier for middle schoolers to transition into high school. Her caring spirit is one of the reasons she was selected as a Rotary Scholarship Winner.

Hayley Stommel came up with the idea of awarding scholarships to her fellow students who were the first generation in their family to attend college. Read more about how she did it and the phenomenal response she received…

Prizes this year include Grand Prize - $5000 in Chamber Choice Gift Certificates Other Prizes Include: * 2 20/20 Alpine Ski passes from Sun Valley Company * Fisher RX8 skis with bindings from Pete Lane’s * 2007 Scott Carbon Fiber CRI Team Road bike from Sturtos & Scott USA * “Moon Glow – Bald Eagles” print from Images of Nature Gallery * 2 night stay in Park City, Utah from Premier Resorts * $1000 in veterinary care from Randy Acker/Sawtooth Animal Center * John Hardy 18 carat sterling silver moonstone cabochon bracelet from Barry Peterson Jewelers * Wood River Valley Restaurant Package from Names & Numbers * Auto Package from Les Schwab, Splash-N-Dash & Sun Valley Auto Club * $500 gift certificate to The Toy Store courtesy of Big Wood Plumbing * YMCA pool party * Sun Valley Company Restaurant package.

Update: On Earth Day 2007, I found a couple links related to the environmental impact of what Brits call “freesheets” (i.e., free newspapers) including a movement to get publishers to pay for the waste they are generating that was kicked off by this article in The Ecologist Magazine. The idea of manufacturers of products being responsible for their recycling/recovery isn’t new. Tire companies have this responsibility. Increasingly PC manufacturers are taking this step voluntarily (i.e., they’ll pay for the disposal of old PCs). Perhaps those newspapers who consider themselves “green” will take that voluntary step if they want to walk their talk. In more and more countries, product manufacturers of all types are expected to be responsible for the disposal of their products at the end of their lifecycle which incents them to produce them in a way that doesn’t create waste issues later.

Residents of Blaine County treasure the environment that surrounds us. Many in the Valley consider themselves to be environmentalists yet are unwittingly adding to the pollution issue (read on to see if you are part of the problem or part of the solution). Why then is there no outrage at the massive waste that is generated by two newspaper companies – the $1.1 Billion Iowa-based Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE) and Ketchum-based Express Publishing, the owners of the Wood River Journal and Idaho Mountain Express and accompanying free publications (e.g., Sun Valley Guide, Real Estate Guide, etc.). Annually, the two organizations combine to generate as much as 5 Million lbs of waste not prone to break down in landfills each year (even factoring in recycling) as well as an estimated 500,000 lbs of carbon burned each year (driving their product from the printing plants to the hundreds of distribution points) contributing to climate change. The amount of carbon burned is roughly equivalent to what 40 average Hummer owners combine to burn in a year. This doesn’t take into account the resources consumed creating the paper and the accompanying chemical waste.

This paper explains the process of creating newspaper though it doesn’t quantify the enormous amount of trees and other products used to create the newspapers. It’s even worse for freebie magazines such as the Sun Valley Guide (the Express’ copycat publication of the Sun Valley Magazine) that are more difficult to produce and recycle. The following is an excerpt from the paper:

The number of trees and other vegetation cut down in order to make paper is enormous. Paper companies insist that they plant as many new trees as they cut down. Environmentalists contend that the new growth trees, so much younger and smaller than what was removed, cannot replace the value of older trees. Efforts to recycle used paper (especially newspapers) have been effective in at least partially mitigating the need for destruction of woodlands, and recycled paper is now an important ingredient in many types of paper production. The chemicals used in paper manufacture, including dyes, inks, bleach, and sizing, can also be harmful to the environment when they are released into water supplies and nearby land after use. The industry has, sometimes with government prompting, cleared up a large amount of pollution, and federal requirements now demand pollution-free paper production. The cost of such clean-up efforts is passed on to the consumer.

What is most unfortunate is that it is almost completely unnecessary. Everything that is generated in the newspapers has been or can be replicated online. It’s also no longer a matter of availability of the medium. Household penetration of the Internet far exceeds Newspaper penetration (75% vs. 53% in the U.S.) and grows wider every day (Source: Editor and Publisher Yearbook data). For example, adults 18-54 selected the Internet as their #1 media choice (46%) while they selected Newspapers as their #1 choice with only 3.2% of that population (Source: OPA study). On a local level, it’s likely that Internet household penetration is even higher given the correlation to income levels and Internet household penetration. It’s also not a matter of being able to reach more people in the Valley as the rapidly growing SunValleyOnline now exceeds the reach of any of the local papers on a daily (with the possible exception of Wednesday), weekly or monthly basis.

Having spent much of my career buying advertising, I always pushed back on newspaper ad salesmen when they touted their circulation (do this “Newspaper Circulation Overstatement” search on Google to see the many examples of overstatement). Perhaps they aren’t wasting as much as outlined above in which case they are overstating circulation. There has not only been rampant circulation overstatement but the notion of circulation is flawed for an analytical business person. I wanted to know whether my ad would be seen not how many copies of the product had been made. With many sections of a paper getting 50% or less readership (Source: Mediamark Research Inc., 2004), the total numbers were meaningless. Consequently, even if every issue was picked up (looking at the stacks of papers on the weekend would suggest otherwise), a huge swath of the paper isn’t read. Ask yourself, do you open up every page of every newspaper that you pick up and see every ad? This is a key reason why Newspaper advertising is in decline while the Internet is growing > 30% year over year – i.e., it’s the difference between theoretical ad delivery and actual ad delivery.

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
When businesses and consumers place display and classified ads, they directly contribute to the issue. For those not familiar with the newspaper business, they determine the number of pages they will print based upon the number of pages of sold advertising (it’s one of the reasons you’ll see AP articles as they didn’t create enough article inhouse to support all the ads to be placed in an issue so they dig up content to create additional ad pages). In other words, each ad placed adds to the amount of resources consumed and waste going to the dump. One related effort to address that issue was the launch of the ERC Exchange on SunValleyOnline – no trees required. Both consumers and businesses are the newspapers’ customers and can do something about it. Ask them to print fewer copies, vote with your feet/eyeballs in where you get your news, place fewer ads in print only. In every business I’ve been involved with, when customers ask for change “we’ve always done it this way” doesn’t cut it as an excuse. It would be unrealistic to think the newspapers will stop printing their paper overnight but they could cut it back by 75% and not necessarily lose any readers if they moved to their online product. While it would certainly bring SunValleyOnline some competition, any Internet-based business expects boatloads of competition – something newspapers traditionally haven’t had to contend with. Perhaps that is the real issue.

Update: I posted this originally last summer. I was reminded of this again when I got a call that I won a raffle item from the Bob Thompson benefit. It was a gift certificate from Atkinson’s. Once again, Atkinson’s showed how they have a heart and are a big supporter in the community by supporting another charitable cause. Hats off to Whit, Chip and the gang at Atkinson’s for their continued support of the community!

In an earlier post, I mentioned why it makes sense to spend your dollars locally if you want a vital community. Part of the rationale is the fact that it’s the local businesses that provide the vast majority of corporate support for local non-profits that help make our valley a great place. Over the last few months, I have spent many hours speaking with local non-profits which is how I learned about the generosity of local businesses. From the standpoint of local businesses, I empathize with how they get hammered every day with requests from non-profits. For example, Rob Santa (owner of Sturtevants) told me that there isn’t a day that goes by that he’s not hit up by a non-profit. While he can’t support every ask, he and other business owners like him are quite generous. At the risk of excluding a business who is very deserving, I’d have to say there is one business that gets mentioned more frequently by non-profits than any other when it comes to their local generosity — Atkinson’s. Whether it’s a case of wine or something as major as a $10,000 donation to the Animal Shelter fundraiser, they get highlighted as an exemplary corporate supporter.

Though they aren’t always the cheapest place to shop when looking at your grocery store receipt, when you take into account how they contribute to the richness of the valley, it’s a different story. Our valley would be poorer if Atkinson’s wasn’t here to support the many worthy causes that they support. I hope you keep this in mind as you spend your grocery dollars. I know the Chase household will.

What other local businesses deserve a pat on the back for their support of local non-profits? Chime in with your stories. Many of the valley businesses struggle with the high cost of operating here and fierce competition from out-of-the-area companies that do little to support our community thus their generosity is all the more appreciated.

Perhaps not surprisingly, when I went to Atkinson’s website to get a picture/logo, the homepage image said it all…

If you were given an opportunity to help a neighbor, boost the local economy, reduce carbon consumption, save time and help a local non-profit, would you do it? Fortunately, it couldn’t be easier and when you consider the entire picture, the cost isn’t much different either. How? Shop locally.

Photo by Michael Eastman

When I heard about the Ketchum Retailers Alliance and the South Valley Merchants Alliance (SVMA), I wanted to learn more about the impact of their efforts if they were successful. I also just spent a week on the Salmon River with a friend who owns a business in Salt Lake City – the Green Building Center and I learned she’s a member of a “buy local” group in Salt Lake (Buy Local First). Quite frankly, I hadn’t given the “buy local” notion a lot of thought until the past year or so. Like many locals, I joined the exodus to Twin Falls and Boise to buy stuff there. While I haven’t eliminated that 100%, we make our purchase decisions for our business and family with eyes wide open and always consider local merchants and service providers when making a purchase decision.

A number of studies have been done that look at the impact of shopping locally versus buying from large national chains. Consider the following examples:
• Modest changes in consumer spending habits can generate substantial local economic impact. For every $100 in customer spending at Borders or Barnes & Noble, the total local economic impact is only $13. The same amount spent with a local merchant yields $45, more than three times the local economic impact.
• If each household in Blaine County simply redirected just a couple hundred dollars of spending from chain stores to locally owned merchants, the local economic impact would reach approximately $1 million. It would be even greater if local businesses did the same.

Speaking for my family, one of the most compelling facets of shopping locally was something we hadn’t thought about until a chat I had with Sarah Hedrick of Iconoclast and a leader of the SVMA. That is, our local merchants and service providers are hit up relentlessly by the many great non-profits we have in our community. Sarah shared the fact that they took a few minutes to think about the non-profits supported by the SVMA members and it was in the range of 60 different non-profits. This echoes the findings of studies that show local businesses contribute dramatically more than chain stores (especially those outside the geographical focus of the non-profit).

Some examples of what are