Growing up in a rural area of upstate New York, on Owasco Lake – one of the Finger Lakes – the importance of supporting local businesses was impressed upon me from a young age. I learned that lesson the hard way at age 10, the day I proudly showed my dad, a dentist, my brand-new pair of Converse sneakers. When he found out that I’d gone 8 miles to the city of Auburn to buy them at Nolan’s Shoe Store, bypassing Karpinski’s, the tiny store nearby owned by one of his patients, he made me return the shoes.

“You need to buy from my patients,” he said. “That patient comes to pay me for the work I do, and we have to return the favor. One hand washes the other.”

While I was not pleased about having to return my prized pair of shoes, the lesson about the importance of supporting local businesses has endured.

It has been an important value that I’ve stayed true to since moving to Maine in 1975, and developing The Highlands of Topsham, Granite Hill in Hallowell, OceanView at Falmouth, Highland Green and Cumberland Crossing at OceanView. Windows in our Cumberland Crossing community are from Matthews Brothers Windows, the 270-year-old Belfast-based company that is the oldest window manufacturer in the country.

And so many other vendors are family-owned companies that have been serving Maine for generations. That includes Mancini Electric, which has been operating for 58 years, and Portland Glass, which dates back to 1947. Another vendor, Agren Appliance, Maine’s largest family-owned independent appliance and mattress retailer, dates back 55 years. We partner with ReVision Energy on our solar installations. Indisco Kitchens & Baths install our cabinetry, countertops, hardware and storage areas. They join a panoply of Maine-based companies, from E. Carrier Shelving to True North Builders, Gawron Turgeon Dillon Architects, Kennebunk Savings Bank, Norway Savings, Franklin Savings Bank and Bath Savings Bank, that we support with our business.

So many of these businesses have been with us since the very beginning, and they have never let me down. I can trust them, and they are as vested in our business as they are in their own.

Mainers pride ourselves on our ethos of independence, but it is actually our interdependence that makes Maine such a special place to live and creates a high quality of life that we enjoy here. The more we support Maine businesses, the more businesses, services and amenities we’ll be able to enjoy here, and the more job opportunities future generations of young people will be able to find here.

We know that if we want to build a Maine that thrives tomorrow, for our children and grandchildren, we must do our part today to make it stronger.

That commitment also influences the support we provide to nonprofit organizations that enrich our community. Each year, we donate to a wide variety of Maine-based organizations ranging from Maine Audubon to Opera Maine.

I call on my fellow Maine business leaders to think carefully about their buying and giving decisions, and the ripple effects those decisions have on the local economy. If we want a strong Maine economy, we must do our part to create it: Buy locally. Trade locally. Vacation locally, and support our local services, consultants and suppliers. And the way we spend money is just one place to start.