That Mother's Day competition was wicked!
The amount of love being thrown around for the mums of our local community was mind-blowing and so great to be a part of.
It was a real showcase of the way our community operates.
There is so much love, appreciation, support and good vibes floating around constantly. It's something that Nath and I really love about the area, and it's something that we really want to support and promote within our little business.
We came up with the idea for Spirited when we first moved to Port Stephens, two and a half years ago. We fell in love with the place and wanted to set up our 'forever home'. We have received so much support from the community from the start and throughout the whole process, making us fall even deeper in love with PS.
From the start, it has been important to us to not only become a part of this amazing community, but also to add something of value, and continue to foster the community spirit.
This is represented by our core values, particularly, Spirited's core value,
"To nurture and foster community, holistically, with respect for all people and places."
There are two parts to this:
1) to nurture and foster community, holistically
2) with respect for all people and places
To provide an example of how we have already tried to "nurture and foster community, holistically" we can take a deeper look at the Mother's Day competition. This comp allowed us to create a new platform to foster love and highlight community bonds; it allowed us to recognise mums from another perspective, how they fit into the wider community and the contribution that they make at this level. Moreover, we are striving to achieve this through aspects of our business we are still developing. This includes a small retail section within our cafe, specifically for local makers and creators. This works on a few levels to achieve our core value. It is promoting the local community and showcasing our local talents to locals and visiting guests, both international and domestic; it is providing a new avenue to access the products of locals, within a retail space; and it directly supports the wealth of our community by filtering funds straight back to the creator, supporting small business owners and their families to continue living as part of our local community.
Secondly, "with respect for all people and places" ensures that we remain mindful of respect and equality for all people. This will help to guide the way in which we promote and nurture community. Respecting all places means respecting our Earth as a whole and all the places of special relevance within it. This includes looking for ways to operate mindfully, reducing waste and our overall footprint. This aspect can take time (it's a minefield out there...), but it is something that we will be ever mindful of. Being a part of our core values (in which all decisions are based), means that this will remain a focus and an area to apply or growth mindset.
Thanks for popping in and reading my ramble...
Take care of one another and radiate those good vibes.
Peace out.
Kayla