Today marks the end of our 13-week "Solution$" series designed to help our readers get through these tough economic times.

The idea was spawned after days -- if not weeks -- of bad news. Stores we grew up with were shuttering their doors, people were losing their homes due to foreclosures and the price of just about everything was skyrocketing.

We wanted to help.

Over the last three months, our Sunday "Solution$" pages were filled with interesting stories about how local folks just like you were finding ways to make ends meet. There were tips on taking a vacation on a budget, how to network with your neighbors to keep your community safe, how to put together that perfect wardrobe on a budget and how to get free stuff in Laton.

But the package had more to offer -- much more. Physicians from Adventist Health offered their weekly "Fitness Facts," and pastors from Koinonia Christian Fellowship gave us words of hope and inspiration.

But that still wasn't all!

Each week, local businesses dropped their prices to bring special deals to their customers. In fact, the total savings possible through offers and coupons totaled nearly $23,500!

Despite being a fun and worthwhile project on which to work, the "Solution$" concept gave us something else: It gave us hope.

It confirmed that, in the midst of the doom and gloom we read and write about every day, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And we found that out each week through the stories about the people in our communities who are doing great things. These are the ingenious souls who can turn lemons into lemonade, or a sow's ear into a silk purse.

While these tough economic times aren't going to disappear as fast as we'd like, we all should celebrate and encourage those around us who are taking the steps to make things a little easier.

And who knows? Maybe not too far down the road we'll see a lemonade stand outside a new downtown store that specializes in unique, one-of-a-kind silk purses.

E-mail Kaczmarek at editor@HanfordSentinel.com.

(May 17, 2009)