On Tuesday 24th March in the midst of the Corona chaos we received an unexpected message from a total stranger. It read:
“Hi, I’d like to support local businesses at this time but would rather not get a takeaway delivered, is it possible to purchase vouchers for later use online?”
We were overwhelmed by this surprising act of generosity and kindness. We thanked them and pointed to our website where we had a voucher system already set up.
We had been running a café on the island of Jersey since June 2019. It’s been a steep learning curve mixed with a lot of hard work. However, it has been a life changing, incredible journey and what’s more, we feel that we have become an integral part of our local community.
Like everyone else, we watched moment by moment as it all started to slip through our fingers with businesses around us closing overnight. These are businesses that add colour and life to our local communities and just make our daily lives, well…better!
So we got to thinking, what if everyone who wanted to could support their favourite local business now by simply buying a voucher to be redeemed in the future?
We’re not charities we’re businesses. We trade goods, services, experiences for money. We got inspired and the Give To Get Project was born. We’ve launched this project in a matter of days in an attempt to help us all take back some agency in this process with the hope that when this all blows over there will be some of our favourite places still left to enjoy. It’s designed to be shared and to have a life of its own...an antivirus if you like!
Can anyone say for sure that the businesses you invest in will still be there to repay the support you’ve shown? No! But that’s the uncertainty of any investment. What we can say that if we don’t utilise the power of our local communities there may be nothing left for us when we emerge from isolation…
Stay safe and if you choose to get involved please spread the love as far and wide as you can!