GRYP Sponsoring Competitive Blood Drive
The Chamber’s Growth and Relationships of Young Professionals (GRYP) is sponsoring a Blood Drive on Wednesday, January 18th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the ABCD Board Room, located in the Devorris Center for Business Development, 3900 Industrial Park Drive in Altoona. GRYP members have challenged all other Chamber Members to see which group can gain the most blood drive participants. All blood donors will be entered into a drawing to win a door prize. To schedule a time to donate blood, contact Jessica Meck at 943-8151.

Leadership Youth Session to Combine Media, Diversity
Forever Broadcasting and WTAJ Your News Leader will be the two destinations that The Chamber’s Leadership Blair County Youth class will head-to on Wednesday as the role of the media in Blair County shares the session spotlight with an afternoon program focusing on diversity, slated for the GACTC.  “These topics are ones in which the class gains considerable insight,” explained Tami Smith of Hoss’s Steak & Sea House, LBC Youth facilitator.  “It takes them out of their comfort zones in a variety of ways.”  (For more information on Leadership Blair County Youth, contact Judy Juda at 943-8151 or visit The Chamber Website.)

"Blue Card" Offers: Free Promotion, Great Results
The Chamber’s “Blue Card” program has successfully helped Chamber businesses to access new customers and Chamber Members to save money on the purchase of products and services.  That would constitute a win-win for everyone.  However, many Chamber Members are still hesitant to place a Blue Card offer on the list of offers that appears on The Chamber Website.  Why the hesitation?  There’s no minimum offer that a business must provide and there’s no cost to post. For further validation, contact someone you know who’s already posted an offer and ask how they’ve done.  We’re betting that the answer will surprise you!  If your business would like to make a Blue Card offer, call The Chamber at 943-8151 or email Jessica Meck.

Chamber Still Has Openings for 2012 "Business Before Hours"
The Chamber created “Business Before Hours” in 2011 and it proved to be a popular way for businesses to promote themselves in a morning drive-time format, catching people as they were heading to work.  “We weren’t sure how popular the concept would be,” admitted Chamber President Joe Hurd.  “It turned out to be a really good opportunity, particularly for businesses that don’t ordinarily get a lot of foot traffic, to welcome those people curious about what the business does.”  There is no charge to host an event and no charge for Chamber Members to attend it.  If your business would like to host a “Business Before Hours,” contact Hurd at 943-8151.

Chamber Partnering With Dale Carnegie on "Skills for Success"
The Chamber and Dale Carnegie Training will once again partner on a program that will begin on January 26th and run for the following eight weeks.  “Skills for Success” will provide attendees an extensive background on things like effective networking, relationship building, stress management and leadership development – just to name a few.  Sessions will be held at the Comfort Inn Hotel in Duncansville.  For more information or to register, contact Jeff Davis at (814) 931-1963. or email him at jeff_davis@dalecarnegie.com.

Informational Meeting on Bahamas Cruise Set for January 25th
The Chamber’s first trip of 2012 will be a cruise from Baltimore to the Bahamas from March 18-25 on Carnival Cruise Lines, visiting Port Canaveral, Nassau and Freeport.  An informational meeting on that cruise will be held on Wednesday, January 25th at 7:00 p.m. at the Devorris Center for Business Development, 3900 Industrial Park Drive in Altoona.  If you’d like to attend that meeting, please call The Chamber at 943-8151.  There is no cost or obligation associated with attending the meeting.  The Chamber is coordinating the cruise through Heritage Travel. The second Chamber trip, from October 7-14, is “Italy’s Great Cities” with Classic Travel.  The trip includes visits to Rome, Pisa, Florence, Verona, Venice and Ferrara. Call Classic Travel at 696-3558 for more information.  An informational meeting about the Italy trip will be held in February.

3rd Annual Canstruction® Competition Entry Deadline Approaching
The Blair County Home & Garden Show is pleased to be hosting its third Canstruction® competition to help fight hunger in Blair and
surrounding counties, one can at a time, during the 42nd Annual Home & Garden Show to be held March 2-4 at the Jaffa Shrine. 
Think you have what it takes to design and build a structure made with nothing more than canned food, ingenuity and luck? Deadline to register your team is January 13th. Get creative, help stop hunger. For more information, please contact Stacy Hoover at The Chamber, 814-943-8151.

Congratulations...
. . . to Bovard Heating & Cooling in Altoona, which was named the winner of the “Showcase Your Nate” Sweepstakes by North American Technician Excellence, the nation’s largest non-profit certification organization for HVACR technicians.  The sweepstakes is designed to reward qualified HVACR contractors for informing consumers that their technicians have gone through voluntary testing to obtain certification from NATE.
. . . to Blair Orthopedics of Altoona for being recognized by the Medical Group Management Association as a “Better Performing Practice” for the sixth consecutive year.  Among other categories, Blair Orthopedics was recognized in the area of patient satisfaction.
. . . to ProCare Physical Therapy, which was recently designated as a “Tier 1” provider for its ability to deliver physical therapy efficiently and cost-effectively.  That designation came from OptumHealth of Minneapolis which launched an independently commissioned survey involving more than 30,000 patients in Central Pennsylvania.