BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — We want to highlight the stories of people doing good in Kern County and in today’s Kern’s Kindness, we’re taking a look at a new campaign that recently made its way to Bakersfield to support our local businesses.
"It’s all about moving people from the lip service of supporting local to actually doing something about it," said Dave Loveland.
Loveland is dedicated to supporting locally owned businesses.
“When COVID hit, you know, these are a lot of people we have personal relationships with and we realized we can’t not do something so we decided to go out and create this impact movement," he said.
Alongside co-founder Bobby Johnson, Loveland created Keep Local Alive. It's a movement inspiring people across the country to shop local during the pandemic.
It started in Chicago but began to spread.
“We quickly realized, everywhere needs this. America needs this," said Loveland.
And now Keep Local Alive is coming to Bakersfield.
"We look for volunteers. We call them ambassadors and we kind of activate local volunteers to be [the] face and the voice of the people there in Bakersfield," said Loveland.
It starts with this Facebook group.
“It’s a great way to ask for and get recommendations. It’s really fun but once we get a certain amount of members we’ll launch Boost Events," said Loveland.
During Boost Events, Keep Local Alive members visit a locally owned business for several days, giving them extra financial support and encouraging others to go there too.
Loveland said Bakersfield stood out to him as a city that could benefit from this type of campaign.
“Bakersfield has so much local pride and heritage and uniqueness that we felt like they were in a unique position to really rally around their own and support this movement there," he said.
Bringing the community together to support those who need it most.
“There’s just so much good out there and this brings it all out," said Loveland.
Kern’s Kindness is all about people making a difference in our community. If you know someone who should be featured, email us at kernskindness@kero.com.
