"I know it's really easy to shop online and just click buttons without taking your wallet out, but our local business community really needs your support, love and compassion right now."
That's the message from the president and CEO of the Lakewood Ranch Chamber of Commerce, which is located in Sarasota, Fla., and was hit hard by Hurricane Irma.
"We really need your support, love and compassion right now," Amy Ballantine writes on the chamber's Facebook page.
The Tampa Bay Times reports the chamber is looking for volunteers to assist with its annual Community Ambassador of the Year awards event, which was moved to a different location this year because of the storm.
"Our Community Ambassador of the Year Awards event is a wonderful time for us to gather to celebrate local leaders and advocates for their dedication, partnership, and service to our community," Ballantine writes.
"After reaching out to event supporters and vendors, and through communications with the City of Sarasota, it was clear that holding the event would be extremely difficult from a logistical standpoint....
I know it's really easy to shop online and just click buttons without taking your wallet out, but our local business community really needs your support, love and compassion right now."
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Getting Out and Staying Out, co-founded by Tony Smith of the VSA Consulting Group, works to reduce recidivism rate among men at Rikers Island, New York City. The recidivism rate significantly dropped from 60-plus percent to under 20 percent, with more than a thousand men over a span of eight years.