Archive: Opinions

The first issue of the Lansing Star was a 'Rogue's Harbor Inn' issue.  That began a tradition of featuring prominent Lansing landmarks in depth, which we have done from time to time.  This week we are featuring Cargill with three exclusive stories and pictures.  The main story is a mine tour that tells about the operation beneath Cayuga Lake.  Another tells about how Cargill engages with the Lansing and Tompkins County communities, and the third is a first person account of what it is like in the mine.

In my mind the real story is the one on Cargill's citizenship and how the company engages with the community in so many ways.  Let's face it.  Big companies have to pay their taxes, but they don't have to do much more than that in the communities they locate in.  Some go out of their way to engage with their communities.  Sometimes they do it for the publicity.  Sometimes they just think it is the right thing to do.

Cargill falls into the latter category.  It has been a big business in Lansing since 1915, but what a lot of local residents don't know is how much it contributes to the community every year.  I've known about some of it because my wife chaired the Lansing Harbor Festival for the last six years, and she has told me about the company's incredible generosity to the festival and the newer Lansing fireworks.

While the company certainly accepts credit for many of these things, it don't typically blast the news out to the community.  From my viewpoint it's more about the giving than about the publicity.  I know this because, of the huge number of press releases I get every week I don't see missives about Cargill's giving.  I have to go after those stories when I hear about them.

Though publicity never hurts, especially when a company wants to expand a facility or get a variance.  And in my opinion municipalities should be more helpful to companies that take their citizenship seriously.  Always within the law, of course, but don't you want to help someone who helps you?

There is no implied contract in that, and companies like Cargill seem to genuinely enjoy giving back to their communities.  It's not just about money to Cargill.  Its employees volunteer in a myriad of causes and activities around town and the county.  The company loans equipment and personnel to help set up local events.  And of course there are significant monetary donations as well.  It is unlikely that the Lansing Community Council would have been able to afford the fireworks show it hosted last July without a particularly generous donation from Cargill.

That made it a particular pleasure to feature the company in this week's Star.  Not that the mine tour wasn't way cool -- of course it was!  But shining a light on a good citizen is always a pleasure.

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