Shop local. Save local. Support struggling Tri-Cities families | Editorial
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- Shop and donate locally to support jobs, tax revenue and small businesses.
- Local spending preserves services, sustains unique retailers and keeps money local.
- Volunteer and donate to food banks and clinics to relieve immediate family hardship.
The most meaningful gift we can give this holiday season is a commitment to the community through where we spend, to whom we donate and how we engage with neighbors facing hardship.
Our collective choices will determine how well everyone begins the new year. Now, more than ever, those who have the means should shop and donate locally. Doing so is more than a feel-good gesture, it is an economic lifeline to our community.
Federal layoffs and budget cuts under the Trump administration have disrupted life in the region. Little more than a week before Thanksgiving, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the region’s largest employer, announced it would lay off 68 workers. That came after a round of voluntary layoffs in August. Hundreds of jobs could disappear at Hanford. And the Bonneville Power Administration laid off more than 100 across the Northwest.
Losing those jobs has a ripple effect on the Tri-Cities. Displaced workers buy fewer gifts, groceries and services. According to Friends of PNNL, an advocacy group of retired laboratory workers and their families, every job lost at the laboratory results in 2.5 more jobs lost in the Tri-Cities.
The Washington Employment Security Department recorded about 4.5% of the Tri-Cities labor force – nearly 7,000 people – did not have jobs.
Meanwhile, inflation is squeezing employed and unemployed Tri-Citians alike. The annual inflation rate was 3% in September. That is less than the rate just a couple of years ago when the rate spiked, but it also remains higher than economists and the public want. The September data are the most recent available because the federal government did not release figures during the shutdown over expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Inflation is cumulative, too. Food costs have soared 20% since 2021. Families must make hard choices between groceries, rent and other necessities. Food insecurity is evident at local food banks where demand has increased dramatically since the shutdown and other federal funding uncertainty.
For immigrant families, things are even worse. The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants has disrupted the local labor force and sent fear coursing through the community.
Families worry about accessing basic services, reporting crimes or simply living their daily lives when masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could descend on them at any time. The climate of fear strains community cohesion precisely when it is most needed.
In this environment, spending our holiday dollars at local businesses becomes an act of community preservation. Those businesses are struggling. Not only must they compete with online retailers, but consumer confidence and spending have tapered off.
When we shop at locally owned stores, the money stays here. It supports jobs, generates tax revenue for public services and sustains unique businesses. Dollars spent at national chains or online retailers go to distant corporate headquarters with little interest in the wellbeing of the Tri-Cities.
Shopping locally is better for the environment, too. Goods made and sold locally arrive on shelves without burning as much gas. The last few miles of delivery are the most wasteful. Local shops also do not use as much wasteful cardboard packaging.
As federal support contracts and local need expands, community donations can help families have happier holidays than they might otherwise.
Organizations like Grace Clinic, Boys and Girls Club of Benton and Franklin Counties, and the Tri-Cities Food Bank provide essential services that go beyond what government programs can address. Many charities accept gift donations so that no child goes without a holiday surprise.
Financial contributions are not the only way to help. Organizations that make a difference in the Tri-Cities need volunteers, too. Teaching children the value of giving back to the community through hard work is a valuable lesson for the season.
Small decisions accumulate into significant outcomes that build community resilience and help our neighbors. Economic hardship that affects one family eventually touches us all.
Shop locally. Donate locally. Volunteer locally. The community you help is your own.