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Giving All You Got; Blacksburg Bagels Shares the Wealth

Community Farmer’s markets bring a bounty of locally grown food, and cottage industries to town.  And these small business owners often have a special kind of dedication to their customers, their employees, and, in this case,  to the welfare of people they don’t even know.

Pete Macedo opened Blacksburg Bagel 5 years ago. “We’ve got six other bakers that work with us. Some are part time some are full time.” 

Macedo’s love of making hand crafted, locally grown or sourced pies, bagels, pastries –and pretty much anything that rises, began at the Blacksburg Farmers Market. The company now supplies area restaurants, shops and offices around town.

It’s been a great summer at the market, where Blacksburg Bagel is a year-round member.  A couple weeks ago, the whole idea of what it means to take care of your community and give back, got Macedo to thinking. “One of the things,” he thought was, “just going through taxes lately, the standard deduction has grown so much that there’s no longer a financial  incentive for people to donate.”

All of a sudden, income tax breaks nudging Americans to share the wealth, are gone. 

A couple weeks ago was 4th of July. He heard a speaker talking about Independence Day. And he says something clicked for him: “The Declaration of Independence wasn’t just a document saying, ‘OK, King, you can’t tell us what to do.'  It was, ‘we’re going to take care of ourselves now,' so we’re going to take care of ourselves and our community the way that we want to. “

So Macedo decides to give away all the money the company earns in a week.  Not just the profits.  Every penny they bring in.

He says, “This was a way that we could say, ‘you don’t need a financial incentive to do this.’

Each employee got to pick a group or cause to give to, and some even offered to work for free last week. Yes, it’s a sacrifice, but for something larger.

“Honestly,” says Macedo, “We can’t afford to give up sales for a week. But personally, I can’t afford not to.”

Robbie Harris is based in Blacksburg, covering the New River Valley and southwestern Virginia.