Paint the Town Orange

The SGA External Relations Committee at Mercer is using their new Paint the Town Orange initiative to forge partnerships with local businesses and highlight special offers for Mercer students.

Freshman SGA Senator, Cole Porter, said the goal of the project is to “engage Mercer students with the Macon community” and “foster relations where [they] can.”

Porter noted that many Macon businesses already supply large discounts to Mercer students but the discounts go unused because students don’t know they exist.

The External Relations Committee is hoping to change that with the “Business of the Month” element of the initiative, where students can learn all about a featured local business and the opportunities available to them at this specific location. There will even be a designated day on campus where students can meet the faces behind the business at a table in the Connell Student Center.

“Spark Macon is our first Business of the Month. They already offer a 50 percent discount for students” Porter said.

In addition to introducing students to local businesses in town, “Paint the town Orange” aims at building a better “Shopping Local Community,” where students recognize and feel comfortable spending money at small businesses instead of large brand name stores.

“Instead of getting your groceries from Kroger, you go to Ocmulgee Traders. Instead of getting your bowties from Belk, you go to Bow Fresh Bowties,” said Senator-at-Large and External Relations committee chair, Timothy Lewis

“The prices are similar, but this way you’re putting money directly into the Macon community and that way everybody can benefit from it,” he said.

By shopping at local small businesses, SGA believes that students can help out the local community that supports Mercer while also utilizing benefits awarded specifically to them.

“When Macon succeeds, Mercer succeeds and when Mercer succeeds, Macon succeeds” Lewis said.

Students can find out more about “Paint the Town Orange” by checking out information posted in the Fresh Food Company and on the SGA Facebook page.