One of the questions we get asked here a bit is, what’s the go with the Local-side? Why didn’t you just get a whole stack of great products from wholesalers and sell them?
A lot of the team here at the Local Side grew up in regional areas, with town populations in the 100s rather than 1000s. Anyone from this kind of small town will tell you there are huge disadvantages to living in this kind of area: lack of resources and limited job opportunities, not to mention that everyone knows your business and the local postie will certainly have read your postcards well before you get them!
But the advantage is the heart. When there’s a crisis everyone pitches in. Someone is seriously ill, the town will do a fundraiser to make sure there’s food on the table; vehicle is bogged in a paddock, neighbour will soon turn up with a tractor and planks; if there’s a fire, the kids will be looked after by some nice family for the night. So, community to us means looking after the people over the fence and knowing they will support you. Community doesn’t just belong in a town, it can be anywhere: a football club, a workplace, a choir, sometimes it can even be a whole suburb or city.
We live in a time where one quarter of Australians will experience an anxiety condition in their lifetime (source Beyond Blue) and loneliness is now a pandemic all of its own. Today a community can genuinely be a lifesaver. So from our community to yours, thank you for taking part.
Say Hi to your neighbour,
The Local Side
Photo by Dio Hasbi Saniskoro from Pexels