How a social media post about a small business sparked big feelings

Earlier in the week, I sustained some damage on my car while navigating the tight confines of Trader Joe’s undergound parking lot in Capitol HIll. In my defense, that pole came out of nowhere! 😂

So on Friday morning, I dropped my car off in Anacostia at Murphy’s Auto Body on Good Hope Road SE in Anacostia. I’m a good driver but I’m also a magnet for hit and run accidents. Years ago, shortly after buying my current vehicle, I witnessed a hit and run involving one of my neighbor’s vehicles and after talking to the police, I walked home to discover someone had did a hit and run on my brand new car! 😳 I was not amused but the damage did give me a chance to “test drive” Murphy’s and I’ve been a loyal customer ever since.

So it was a no brainier to return to Murphy’s to repair my car this time, even though there is a body shop closer to my apartment. And while I’m sure that west of the river body shop would have restored my car, I prefer to support small businesses east of the river whenever I can. When you live and/or work east of the river you will learn It’s not just brand loyalty it’s about community loyalty. So many things can and will stand in the way of the success of a Ward 7 and Ward 8 business so they can use all the support (and coins) they can get. And as in years past, Murphy’s took care of me — even offering to buff out some minor scratches on my car. Now that’s service! After I was serviced, I sat in my rental in the Murphy’s parking lot and published some social media posts about my trip to Murphy’s.

I had barely made it to the end of the street before the responses began flooding into my timeline. What began as a short post about a family-owned small business in Ward 8 became a Southeast Love fest with people sharing their positive experiences as consumers. We were united in our support and appreciation for this Ward 8 asset. To give you an idea of scale, in less than 4 hours nearly 100 people “liked” my Facebook post and had shared it numerous times!

To say that made me giddy with glee would be an understatement. It really reminded of why I started Congress Heights on the Rise and reSPIN all those years ago (2008 to be exact). Fast forward 11 years and while I’m still highlighting the great things in the community I don’t always get to really appreciate and digest the positive outcomes of all this marketing and community engagement. Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard from people who found their job, home, etc. from information posted on Congress Heights on the Rise and each story makes my heart skip a beat. I

It takes a lot of time, energy and coins to keep this site updated 7 days a week but if even one person is impacted enough by the information they see here to feel pride, interest and concern for this community it’s worth it. Thank you for being my inspiration and muse and please keep reading, commenting and reaching out! Although my schedule doesn’t allow me have coffee dates or chats (this is a one-woman operation after all) I do check emails and and tweets to @TheAdvoc8te — your feedback really does make a difference.

Let’s keep on keeping on together.