“You don’t choose the day you enter the world and you don’t choose the day you leave. It’s what you do in between that makes all the difference.” – Anita Septimus
We have all seen the suffering this year. One area is in our stores, restaurants and service businesses as we pass by the closed storefronts, empty stores and restaurants. My business also was affected with the school closures. Perhaps yours was too. And now we are facing more closures. And while there is so much we cannot control, there are things we can do to help.
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
Inspired by this quote from Mother Teresa, in September I made a plan to help my fellow small business owners in Laguna Beach during national small business week and at the same time support my Moore Law team.
I wanted to create my own ripple and spread the word for others to join me and create a “Wave of Change.” This was going to be a one-time event, but it was so great, we decided to keep the momentum going. We continued the Wave of Change campaigns in October for National Women’s Small Business Week October , in November for Thanksgiving and now in December.
This week, joined by my bookkeeper and dear friend Lucy Watson and her team, we gave each of our team members $100 to spend in local businesses to shop for (1) our Zoom holiday party Secret Santa exchange and (2) for gifts for children in foster care and teen shelters.
It’s amazing what 15 women and one 12 year-old boy (my son) can do with $100 each in one hour! We patronized 19 local shops: Laguna Active Wear, Bushard’s, Quicksilver, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Sock Harbor, Areo, Beach Trade, Tight Assets, Jasmine of Anatolia, Starbuck’s, Whole Foods, 254 Shoes, Stitch and Feather, Nuance, Sunny Days, The Cotton Place, Heavenly Couture, Gorjana, and Tuvalu!:
We are further supporting these businesses by promoting them on our Facebook page leading up to Christmas. Please check out “Moore” photos on Facebook.
In addition to the Secret Santa gifts for each other, we bought and donated gifts for 41 children! Through CASA (learn more) we donated 17 unwrapped gifts for children in foster care and then 24 wrapped gifts for teenagers in Waymakers teen shelter (Laguna Beach and two other OC locations – learn more).
Other businesses and friends have told me they have joined in this Wave of Change effort to support small businesses by shopping with their teams and their families.
I invite you to join us! If we each just make a small ripple, together we can make a Wave of Change. It does not have to be a big financial commitment. It’s the thought, the support, the coming together that matters.
“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” – Mother Teresa
So, as we enter the final shopping days before Christmas, and for those belated Hannukah gifts, don your mask and head outside to shop in your local small businesses. And if you are finished with your shopping already, then you can shop to donate to those who have less than we do. Or order out dinner from a local restaurant. Then post about it on social media, or tell me and I will! Create your own ripple, join the wave. It feels great to take control and to something good during this time.
#WaveOfChange
#RippleEffect
#SupportSmallBusiness.
