A Christmastime Gift... to Business Owners (of all people!)

Last Sunday I found out about a Centerville Christmas Boutique happening the next weekend... yesterday. What a fun idea, for local businesses to show themselves. It made me think: it's probably a great place to meet local activists, even if that's just the organizers. It cost $25 to get a booth so it's obviously not a money maker for them.

I messaged the group and Laura responded, and I was impressed by how communicative and organized she was.
So long story short: I paid. I figured there was a decent possibility of meeting good people -- and if I couldn't get ready in time then it's not a huge loss. I had nothing prepared... I just blindly hoped I could create a poster and flyers in time.

I did finally get some time on Friday and submitted my poster for printing that night; Saturday morning I started and finished my flyers. 😅

So I got there and met Laura, motoring around in her wheelchair, and she helped me find my spot and shift people to give me space. There were about 50 businesses there, a full house.

I'm extremely glad I went, because two incidents showed it's really the epitome of collective action without money:

• The Girl Scouts were my neighboring table, and we had a great conversation about sharing skills with the girls. She was a volunteer for a dozen years, and now she does both paid and volunteer work. She got on Time Safari and we hope to get established people together with girls -- partly because they're more apt to listen to strangers. I look forward to that collaboration.
• I had the privilege of talking more with Laura and found that she handled everything at the event. She did it from her bed and her wheelchair: she has some form of myalgia to where she can only do small amounts of activity per day – and that includes reading and watching videos. Anything physical or mental taxes her. She used to be a teacher, and, boy, does she miss those kids. What a terrible situation. She says that 1 in 5 people with her condition take their lives; there are places where assisted suicide is more accepted, and they have a convention in their online forums where a blue rose is posted every time someone chooses that option.

Saying all of that, Laura was so funny that I naturally wanted to hang around her. And I found out afterward that the girl who was selling homemade salsa got a much-needed boost from Laura's encouragement to get out and do her business. What a light!

Now to the lesson from the event: these are local businesses who are getting a lift from gifts of time and talents, not for monetary reward. Imagine that: non-moneyed interests supporting moneyed interests. I have a feeling many vendors don't know how much was given to them: how deep Laura dug to get it done, and how many weeks she will now be bedridden to recover from this.

But is a joy to her. This is at least her second year doing this event. I hope she finds it in her to do it again, because it's a light during the season. It's something someone does for non-monetary reasons.

Those are the best reasons of all.

Further Activities

• In Time Safari:
  • You can now request a more reliable daily message to prompt yourself: set a "Reminder Notification".
  • You can now record contributions from a project (in addition to those to a project). As we build these alternate economies, we'll now see where projects support individuals and other projects, illuminating the full impact as things are paid forward.
• Support local businesses.
  • Do it with money, and do it with encouragement or feedback directly to the owners so that they can do an even better job for you and your neighbors.
  • The next time you plan to go to a store, stop and think whether there is an option run by a local owner.