In middle of April I received a phone call from a woman who wanted to give money to Collier County Say No To Drugs.
I asked her if she had a business here. She said she didn't. She was retired and moved down here from
Massachusetts with her husband several years ago. I told her that CCSNTD was 100% supported by the Business
and Professional Community of Collier County and that if she wanted to give money to fight drugs she should contact
The Substance Abuse Coalition of Collier County (The link to their website can be found in
the Links section). I gave her their phone number. She said she would call them. I told her I
appreciated that she wanted to help out, and that a really great way to support our website was to support the
businesses who advertise here. I asked her that if she knew parents of school age kids that she should direct them
to the website, especially the Articles section. She said she was already doing that. She thanked me, and the
conversation was over.
Three weeks later, about the end of the first week of May, I received another call from the same woman. It seems she took my advice about supporting the businesses who advertise on the website. She told me that she hired a new lawn service, found a new mechanic for her toyota, and even hired a new attorney. She found them all from our Busiess Directory! She said when it comes time to change the look of her kitchen she will call someone from this website again.
Local, local local....
Just about every day I am asked by local business people if Collier County Say No To Drugs is 100% local. My answer is always the same. "It's local." I can understand the concerns of the local business community. When I has running my insurance agency I had fund raisers coming at me every day. The vast majority of them were from out of town. Most of them were from out of state. All were pretty good causes. All of them needed money.
One of the biggest concerns of the business community here in Collier County is that when they write a check for advertising to Collier County Say No To Drugs, local drug education is helped in some way. Answering their questions is pretty easy, because Collier County Say No To Drugs was formed with only Collier County in mind. When a business advertises on the website, they can rest assured that the website will have local news, local photos, local events.. The business community can rest assured that when Collier County Say No To Drugs writes a check for a drug prevention or education organization, that organization will be Collier County based. CCSNTD was formed with the mantra "Local, local, local....." resounding in the ears.
John Gilmore
