A LEADING trade union has joined forces with Kilkeel Chamber of Commerce for a special initiative aimed at giving back to its members this Christmas, whilst supporting the local economy at the same time. Recently, representatives of Unite The Union contacted the local business group’s president, Alan Knox, to explore ways that the chamber could organise and distribute a ‘spend local’ voucher scheme as they wanted to give their members a special ‘thank you’.
Mr Knox explained that the union reached out to him to see if there was a way the chamber could arrange and distribute the vouchers to Unite’s members. “Instead of simply buying vouchers online, Unite the Union wanted to support local independent businesses,” he stated. As part of this, it was stipulated that the vouchers could only be used in local, independent businesses. Each member of Unite The Union has been given a £20 voucher to spend in participating shops from now until March. “Through the scheme Unite The Union have directly spent over £4,500 in our local economy, with all the money going towards local independent traders,” continued Mr Knox.
He added that businesses from Annalong, Atticall, Ballymartin, Killowen and Kilkeel were invited to join the scheme free of charge, with 25 having signed up. “When a committee member from the Unite The Union reached out to us, proposing the ‘spend local’ scheme, we were only too happy to get involved and delivered on this fantastic initiative,” the Kilkeel Chamber of Commerce representative continued. “We think this is a brilliant scheme that supports local businesses and encourages members to shop locally, a message that we continue to encourage. “Unite the Union could have simply bought online vouchers for their members, however we are grateful to them for supporting local and hope that we can further develop this scheme to bring it to a wider number of businesses next year. “Thank you to the Unite The Union’s committee for supporting local and helping to support 25 local businesses who have signed up to the scheme,” he concluded.
Jordan Ballance, a Unite The Union committee member, said the initiative had many benefits. “We are delighted to have partnered up with Kilkeel Chamber of Commerce to launch the first ‘shop local’ voucher scheme. “We were looking at ways to give back to our members but also support local businesses this Christmas. “The initiative has allowed us to do this, helping to put thousands of pounds back into our local economy.”
Reiterating thanks to Kilkeel Chamber of Commerce for organising the scheme, and to local business Getprint for sorting out the vouchers, Jordan added: “This is a small token of thanks to our members for their continued commitment to the union. “We would like to wish all our members a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”
