Five times, Skip MacKenna's job was shipped overseas, leaving him unemployed.
"One time, I was without a job for eight months," said MacKenna. The father of three calls that one of the worst times of his life.
Today, MacKenna works out of his home in Carolina Forest as a project manager for a computer science firm. But in his spare time, he works on his passion.
"I want to do something. I'm a patriot. I'm made in America. I want to buy American. I need to walk the walk myself."
Inspired by Diane Sawyer's 'Made in America' segment on ABC News, MacKenna started finding resources on the internet that promote products made in America.
"I'm upset with Americans that they are not looking, and I slap my own hand too for not looking deep enough when I buy something. If I buy a rope, where is that rope made?," he said. "It's hard. It's not easy. But you can find American products and all you have to do is look."
A little more than a month ago in his home office, MacKenna created the website madeinamericasc.com which helps people find American products.
The website that he promotes through his twitter and facebook accounts links customers to American companies and products, and even to his website competitors that also promote goods from the United States.
MacKenna realizes there are some products this holiday season that are in high demand that are only made overseas, but he's not asking for people to buy strictly American made, he said.
"I don't even know that my coffee cup was made in America. I'm just asking people to think about it and look for American made products," he said. "If you have to buy the Kindle, buy the Kindle. But buy other things that are American because now you are spending some of your money in America and some elsewhere. That's fair because you're not going to find everything made in America. We know right now it's not possible."
ABC News calculated that if each person spend $64 this season to buy American products, it would create 200,000 jobs in the country.
"When you pick something up, turn it over and look at the labels. You're going to make jobs for people in this country and that's the bottom line," said MacKenna.
While he's pro-American, he's not against other countries and their products. "I love their products. I love the world. But I think that we need to be on a level basis here and instead of giving everything and sending it overseas and leaving us void...we need to be equal footing with everyone and if we're not, we need to make it equal."
He is just one man but he's making a difference, he said. "Mass numbers we have in America can make America great again by buying American products."
Do you look for American made products? How easy or difficult is it to buy most American?
