Hello, not being certain where to post this, I asked Scunner, and he told me it would be OK to use this area…
All acquaintances and future-friends and supporters of the @FethiyeAndAround venture, after meeting with city officials and several trade associations and getting their backing, we are now ready to launch. I spoke of my intent to start a community project/social business back in April '13, when I first introduced myself to the forum members. Since then we had two press appearances in Land of Lights (Nov.25th and Dec.9th issues) and a stall at 3C’s wonderful Xmas & Craft Fair -maybe you’ve seen us towards the far end of the fair, by Şimşek Restaurant.
You are well aware of the effects of multi-national big-box firms coming into small town USA and GB, taking jobs away, effecting the closure of small independent mom&pop shops, sucking the money away from town coffers. Turkey’s towns are headed in that direction in a head turning speed. Being proactive, we aim to create community awareness in Turkey -starting with Fethiye, a town close to our hearts- on the importance of supporting the small independently owned businesses in town, and on the importance of keeping the unique character of this place, the very place that we call home, for the sake of our children.
As such, we need committed volunteers, who care deeply about this place in order to bring to life the "FETHIYE LIVING LOCAL" community awareness grass roots movement. This is where you come in. I wanted to call upon you first to seriously consider getting involved and become champions and ambassadors of the movement.
It involves handing out fliers as you engage people in conversation in places you go normally -for a walk, or at a restaurant, etc-; manning booths at town fairs, with banners and table cloth, handing out information, while striking up conversations on the topic; walking into shops, explaining what we are doing and asking for permission to hang posters and/or window decals; wearing buttons, t-shirts to drive the message home, and activities as such that you might come up with as we discuss among ourselves on creative ways of spreading the word and getting more volunteers to join the grass roots.
This project is two pronged, while one prong is to educate the customer to reward the independently owned businesses who do it the right way, the more challenging prong is to educate the small merchant so more of them learn how to do it right.
Those of you who realize the importance of this project and are ready to hop on the band wagon as well as those of you who need to hear more before joining in, please leave a note here so we can get a head count and pick a date and time we can meet and discuss details …perhaps @Eyna’s or @CADDE’s depending on the number of people interested to hear more and to contribute their ideas?
You can visit
http://fethiyeandaround.com's
http://facebook.com/fethiyeandaround facebook page
as well as request to join the Facebook group FethiyeLivingLocal where ambassadors for the movement meet online. May we suggest you also visit
ftp://http://UPtownAndAround.com web site to get some idea of what we are trying to accomplish.
Blessings and thank you. Don't be shy, please make contact -we need you. I need you to bounce off ideas and hear new ideas. Jacob the UPtown'r.
