I agree. There is a BIG difference.
Just as an example, when we were doing the silent auction fundraising for SYCP, I’d have to check to be sure but out of the 16 or so donations we received only 2 came from businesses east of Shrewsbury/New Freedom, 1 from Whiteford, MD, 2 from York, 1 from Hershey, and 1 from Baltimore. In other words even though most of our shows later in the podcast, especially during the election were about SESD, we got about 6 times more support from folks and businesses on the other side of I83. In fact at one point the decision was made that if the podcast were to continue, we would no longer cover issues east of the I83 corridor INCLUDING SESD since when your a non profit, you have to sort of have to dance with the one that brung ya’.
Now why we got more trust from an area we served less often . . . who knows. Folks east of I83 corridor were always more suspicious of the podcast. For whatever reason, it seems to be part of the nature of the area.
Interestingly, even though you say there are more transplants west of I83 area, in many ways I find that area to be more like a lot of the parts of the state in which I have lived from a ‘community’ standpoint. It has nothing to do with it being more or less rural as far as I could tell, it has more to do with folks acting as they are part of a common community . It is really difficult to explain.
That said, I would agree that once you get to know people better here they are more loyal, however, the hump is so large as to be sometimes insurmountable if folks don’t have opportunities to get to spend time with you.
Again, it is really difficult to explain. I really like the area but it does have its interesting ‘quirks’.
Interesting thread, I would like to see what more folks think on the subject.
