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Adams County could sure use a few million dollars and a few hundred jobs right now. With all of the income and jobs that have been lost locally and across the state because of the COVID-19 pandemic any relief would be nice.

You can help. How? By making sure you file with the U.S. Census.

Sounds crazy, but it isn’t when you consider how the federal government uses census numbers every 10 years to decide how to divvy up billions of dollars among the 50 states and more than 3,000 counties across the country.

If you or your friends do not fill out U.S. Census forms, money that would otherwise come to our community will likely go elsewhere.

The Census is important in so many ways. Besides bringing federal dollars to the area, prospective businesses use data from the census to decide locations for any new factories, warehouses and offices. National chains use the data to decide where to open and close stores and restaurants. Developers look at the numbers to decide where to build homes.

On Tuesday, local leaders preached the importance of making sure every local resident participates in the census, which takes place every 10 years.

On Friday, only 57.3% of Adams County residents had participated in the survey according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. That number is 5.4 points behind the participation rate 10 years ago.

The good news is that the deadline to file with the U.S. Census is not until Oct. 1. Better yet is that the census takes about 10 minutes to complete and responses are confidential.

So if you want to make sure Adams County is accurately represented, do your part to bring more money and possibly more jobs to the area by filling out the form.