Several of us who live and work in Michigan simply refuse to participate in the so-called one state recession. Here is a fantastic idea, first floated by Detroit's Hour Magazine, confirmed by the Michigan Agritourist Department, and more recently circulating around via email. Think and act! Instead of moaning about how bad things are in Michigan economically, this is an opportunity to make things better.
'If we all spent $10 per week on Michigan products, more than $36 Million would be pumped into the state's economy - EVERY WEEK!'
How powerful is that? The idea is to consciously shift at least $10 of your weekly grocery budget to products that are from Michigan companies. Take this a step further by making your purchases at grocery stores which are also Michigan owned. There are several of these: Spartan stores are a cooperative; this means that if you buy a Michigan made product from a Spartan affiliated store, you get a 'triple-dip'. The product is made in Michigan, the store is independently owned by a Michigan family, and Spartan Stores headquarters is located in Grand Rapids. Other independent stores include Randazzo's and Westborn markets. Meijer is located in Grand Rapids, and also counts as a 'double-dip.'
The website Buy Michigan Now has more great information.
Here is just a partial list of Michigan products, brands, and company locations to get you started:
Flatout Bread - Saline, MI
Kellogg's Cereal - Battle Creek
Reny-picot Cheese - Benton Harbor
Yotta Bar granola bars - Warren
Morley's Chocolates - Sterling Heights
American Spoon condiments - Petoskey
Keebler cookies - Battle Creek
Baremans Dairy - Holland
Melody Farms Dairy - Livonia
Nature's Select snacks - Owosso
Cole's Garlic Bread - Grand Rapids
Basha Hommus - Ferndale
Kowalski Hot dogs - Hamtramck
Old Orchard Juice - Sparta
Weight Watchers Muffins/ snacks - Jackson
Koegel's Lunch Meats - Flint
Jiffy Mix Muffins, etc. - Chelsea
Eden's Natural Foods - Clinton Twp.
Faygo soda pop - Detroit
Aunt Mid's produce - Detroit
Better Made snacks - Detroit
Absopure water - Plymouth
St. Julian wines - Paw Paw
2 comments:
Also check out www.BuyMichiganProducts.com.
While a fraction of this statement is true, it has nothing to do with supporting local business. After 10 minutes of searching, I found the source - Elaine Brown, executive director of Michigan Food & Farming Systems. Her "$10-a-week" quote had to do with supporting local farmers and the benefits of buying locally-grown produce. That's where the money should be spent. Although it's always good to support local merchants, the article is about farming and nothing else.
Here's the quote within the correct context:
Purchasing locally grown products not only delivers more taste and freshness than other produce, which may have traveled 1,500 miles to get to your plate, but also helps strengthen local farmers, communities and the economy. In fact, if every Michigan household spent just $10 per week on Michigan-produced food, it would generate nearly $40 million each and every week.
You can read it in its entirety here:
http://www.mecprotects.org/MER/07fall/fresh.html
FYI - Vernor's is now artificially flavored (no more ginger), is owned by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and is made in Texas:
http://www.drpeppersnapplegroup.com/brands/vernors/
Post a Comment