Last weekend in our Newswatch newspaper I introduced a new Business Strategy called Hearts for Orange. It's a new and exciting initiative that I'm undertaking for the good of Orange, one I hope everyone who loves this great city of ours will get behind and embrace.

If you missed Newswatch last week, copies are still available from our office or you can read it online at our website www.orangecitylife.com.au

One of the components of the strategy is to remind us again how important it is to support our local businesses, all of them. On that note, the following was one of the stories in the Newswatch feature, it's pretty self-explanatory. I encourage you to read it, think about it and then act upon it.

How often have you heard it "Shop locally!", "Support local businesses!" or similar? Does it really change the way you spend your money? Have all the messages about keeping locals in jobs if you do, really got through? I wonder?

It is so important for us to spend as much money as we can here locally, with local businesses, even if in some cases it takes effort to do so, or it costs a little more.

There is so much at stake if we don't, and now, with Covid-19 added to the equation, it's even more important than ever, especially in a city like Orange. Whether you want to accept it or not, the future of Orange, the jobs you may want your children to have, the choice of goods and businesses that you expect to be available here, and so much more, hinge on how you spend your money and who with.

Imagine you have a hammer, nails and some wood in your hand and you can build either a coffin or a treasure chest, which would you choose? If a hammer, nails and wood in your hands represented money, when you spend your money outside of Orange, you're building a coffin, when you spend it in Orange, you're building a treasure chest.

Hearts for Orange urges everyone who loves Orange, who lives in Orange, who cares about Orange - in other words has a real heart for Orange, to earnestly spend your money where your heart is, here in Orange.

If enough of us do this, we'll help our local businesses to remain profitable and even grow, in turn this growth will see more of them employ more people, creating the jobs that are vitally needed to keep the wheels of our economy turning.

Let me say again what is at the heart of my Hearts for Orange strategy, our aims if you prefer -

To create more jobs -

by - helping businesses prosper -

by - fostering community pride and involvement