Buy Local Challenge
The Buy Local Challenge grew out of an effort to "taste-test" social marketing strategies by putting our money where our mouths were, so to speak. The idea? Place an issue—in this case, buying local food—on the table for one month in an effort to gather insight on the process behind changing social behaviors. Given our work in food and agriculture, buying local seemed like a natural fit.
To celebrate our 5th Annual Buy Local Challenge, Vanguard is seeking individuals and organizations who want to join in the fun with us! We invite you, your family or your organization to join us in the quest to eat local foods and improve your local economy. The basic premise is simple. For one month, challengers are encouraged, not required, to seek out local foods, share resources, and ask a lot of questions about where their food comes from. Each year, we develop educational materials to support the challenge. We’re working on those right now and they will become available soon. We’ll post them online and any fellow challengers outside of Vanguard will be invited to log their progress on our 2006 blog!
Over time our annual Buy Local Challenge has become a valuable tool to promote team building as well as educate staff about an important social issue. Above all, we have a lot of fun doing it!
If you are interested in taking this year’s challenge with us, email Erin L. Turner.
