Building Communities & Buying Locally

Building Communities & Buying Locally

Mary Griggs is a local Habitat homeowner who recently paid off her mortgage.  She and her eight children have been happy in their home for almost 20 years.  She says, “Our home felt right as soon as we walked in.  ….despite the inevitable skinned knees and broken hearts of growing up, our lives here would be happier than we’d ever known.”  She expresses deep gratitude to all the volunteers and donors who made her home possible.

Habitat improves the lives of their partner families and has a positive impact on the community.  Decent homes keep a neighborhood strong (especially when renovating empty foreclosures), and Habitat provides additional economic benefits.  In the last year alone, Habitat homeowners paid over $200,000 in taxes to Washtenaw County.  And while some building materials are donated through national corporate partnerships, many are purchased from local vendors.

Why Buy Locally?

Local businesses are an important part a community’s unique character.  And because local business owners live in the community, they are invested in its future.  According to the National Federation of Independent Business, 91% of small business owners volunteer or donate to local causes.  And economic studies have shown that for every $100 spent at a chain store, only $12 circulates back into the local economy; that same $100 spent at a local business re-circulates $45 into the local economy.

Supporting local farmers means you’re getting nutritional produce – fruits and vegetables lose nutrition when shipped hundreds (or thousands) of miles.  It also reduces the carbon footprint involved in transportation, and gives you a chance to know the farmers.

Fair Trade

Finally, buying locally helps ensure your money isn’t contributing to slave labor, unsafe working conditions, or other international human rights violations.  If you do purchase items that are made internationally, look for the Fair Trade Certified™ logo. 

The nonprofit certifying agency, TransFair USA, travels to producer sites at least annually to see that producers get a fair price for their goods, and work in healthy and sustainable conditions.  TransFair also ensures that certified farms have no child slaves working their fields.

The fair trade system guarantees that producers get the financial and educational support to meet their living needs, improve their communities, grow their businesses, and farm with environmentally-friendly practices.

Who knew that our decisions about how we spend our money could have such tremendous implications?   (Written by Kelly Gauthier for inside the FORUM March 3rd. 2013.)

Enjoy using the sack and activities calendar for our LENTEN PROGRAM  Sustain a House … Help a community.   Visit: StFrancisA2.com/lent

Our Lenten Activities Calendar 2013  

Our PRAYERS of the Faithful Petitions During Masses 2013

Our ARTICLES, all tie into Habitat for Humanity's sustainable practices.