Country Learning

My office is located in the county seat of a very rural county. The entire county had a population of 13,299 in 2003. The nearest superstore is about 40 miles away. There is a Pizza Hut, but you have to drive another 15 miles to get to the next chain restaurant (a Sonic - is that really a restaurant?).

These small towns know that it wouldn't take much for them to completely die off. So many of them are bedroom communities already, with people commuting 45-60 miles each way to work. If you took away the schools or a major employer (like a nursing home)... Civic leaders would have trouble finishing that thought.

Because of this reality, the board of directors that issues my paycheck insists that we buy everything locally that we possibly can. They understand the value of supporting local business and keeping the local economy afloat. They know that our agency would not exist if there were not local businesses and residents to support us.

Today I went to the local Duckwalls and purchased 15 folders with metal fasteners for our volunteer training manuals. This purchase cost $7.82. If I had made the same purchase at the 40-miles-away WalMart where I was anyway yesterday, the exact same product would have cost $1.61.

How should we be good stewards to our community and to our donors? Should we pay five times the cost for products so we can keep local businesses open? Should we conserve dollars spent on office costs so those dollars can be spent providing services to the local children?

It seems that stewardship is always complicated.