Not too long ago I found myself in a meeting with other Executive Directors and the discussion around supporting local was raised. A key question – what was our responsibility to support local while also supporting our respective industries? And what were doing?
As we have just wrapped another amazing Advancing Women in Trucking conference – we took some time to reflect on what that meant. If you know me and my team or have been to a Trucking Human Resource Sector Council Atlantic event – you know we are big supporters of local in our community, Province and Country. If you receive something to remember the event by, it is something meaningful and from a local vendor.
Why? We feel strongly that it is important to support local and we are proud of that commitment. We know the money put into our local and national economies is positively contributing and giving back in a variety of ways.
But the comments around the board table made me sit back and reflect. Are we doing enough? Are we narrow in our efforts to support? We really started to consider what local means for us and for anyone supporting local.
And then we were shopping at one of our favourite local shops and waved to a Professional Driver from a well-known carrier, who we had originally met while he was in training years before. And then we saw another Professional Drive from another well-known carrier. Because our community knows we are in trucking we also recognized how often we were hearing positive feedback about the professional drivers and customer service our local community was getting from our industry.
We realized how important it is that we remind ourselves that we are all part of the local aspect of local business. And local is what’s happening on your doorstep to the doorstep in another region. Whether something is locally made, shipped in and crafted, or crafted across the Country and brought to a local shop … each piece of the puzzle that we use to celebrate and support local has touched a local trucking company.
How powerful is that? To truly recognize the local impact from a global level? I encourage you to not only do what you can to support local but also reflect on who you are supporting during that journey. Understand the true impact we sometimes miss – the small business owner, the staff they employ, the Professional Drivers who deliver goods. I am confident you will be just as proud as we are to support local!
