Just over six years ago, I accepted a job in the retail world. At age 34, it was my first real retail job and so there was quite a bit that was foreign to me. Actually, it was all foreign to me. One of the things I have learned in my six-plus years on the job is how to better support those that support you. I, often, run into situations where people who represent service groups do things, totally unintentionally, that contradict this practice. In my own life, I can say that if I have to buy an RV (which I did last year), I had better get it from a business that purchases promotional products and signage from me.
Yorkton is a great little city when it comes to businesses who support non-profit organizations. I could list a bunch of them, but it’s not fair as some would, inevitably, not get mentioned. Suffice to say, the city is big enough to have healthy service groups and non-profit organizations and also big enough for all of us to do business here without having to go anywhere.
There are times when outfits like grad committees, schools, minor sports organizations, dance clubs, and charity groups have no choice but to spend money in order to make their event a success. When this is the case, I feel it is incumbent on that group to keep their business local, even if it means paying pennies on the dollar more than if you were to go to Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, or some other big centre. The reality is that Yorkton businesses do their best to help keep your group afloat and they don’t expect to get those donations back through your business, but in the event you do need something that is offered, the right thing to do is to buy from a Yorkton business.
I know of one real prominent Yorkton business who offers funding to select groups if an application is received. While I don’t think it’s stipulated that you have to keep your spending local, surely the intent is to support groups who need the money along with supporting the area’s economy all at the same time. Getting money from a local business and then taking it and dropping it in a city like Winnipeg really doesn’t accomplish the true spirit of the intent.
I can only speak for myself, but I know when I run into a situation with a customer where our store cannot provide what is desired, I always direct that individual to another Yorkton outfit that can. In all my time here, I don’t think I have ever said, “You will have to go a bigger city for that.”
Don’t take this article the wrong way. It’s not meant to be scolding. It’s meant more to be a service announcement on behalf of Yorkton businesses, and also an information article to people who sit on committees who aren’t active participants when it comes to dealing with business and there are quite a few of those people, who have great hearts and good intentions. I was once one of you. I would have canvassed the local grocery store for free propane and then driven to Regina to get cheap cans of pop. It’s laughable, but unless you think about how the local economic wheel turns, you can take it for granted.
I’ve wondered this before, but ‘Why don’t NHL teams employ Sumo Wrestlers as goalies?’ The best hockey on television, at the moment, is the Memorial Cup.
You could make the case that LeBron James is the Most Valuable Player in any sport of all-time. I watched James play what experts say was a ‘bad’ game on Sunday night, yet he still finished with 37-points, 13-assists, and 18-rebounds, including a key 3-point jump shot late in the game that solidified a 114-111 win over the Atlanta Hawks that gave the Cleveland Cavaliers a 3-0 series lead in their NBA semi-final. The Cavs have played the entire playoffs without second fiddle Kevin Love and have also played this series without third fiddle Kyrie Irving. This Cleveland team last year missed the playoffs and James is, realistically, the only serious difference to the roster. The Miami Heat, who went to four straight league finals (winning two), with James from 2011-14 missed the playoffs in their first year without him. The rest of the roster, is pretty much, the same as last year. If you look back at what the Edmonton Oilers did without Wayne Gretzky and how the Chicago Bulls fared without Michael Jordan; I think you can make the case that there has never been an athlete like James ever before. In my lifetime, Jordan and Gretzky would rank as 1-2, but I think I have to bump them to 2-3. The moniker ‘King’ James fits.
Nice person mentions to Richard Schofer, Mike Payne, Cary Walser, and Twila Mund.
