County Commissioners to Answer Questions at Thursday’s “Breakfast Club”
Chamber’s Annual Meeting Set for January 26th
Sponsorships for Annual Meeting Available One More Week
Chamber Recognizes “All-Stars” for December
Traveling in 2018? Consider the Chamber’s Greece, Ireland Trips
Chamber Safety Program to Focus on Opioid Crisis
Safety Committee Looking to Expand its Reach
Have You Posted Positions on the Chamber Job Board Yet? It’s Free!
“Buy Here Bucks” a Win-Win for Buyers, Sellers
Congratulations . . .
County Commissioners to Answer Questions at Thursday’s “Breakfast Club”
The tradition of having the Blair County Commissioners speak at the first Chamber “Breakfast Club of the new year will continue in 2018. The Commissioners have agreed to participate in the event, which will be held this Thursday, January 11th at 7:45 a.m. at The Casino at Lakemont Park. The format for the Breakfast Club presentation will be Q&A with questions being asked by Cory Gehret of Stiffler McGraw, chair of the Chamber’s Public Policy Committee. The committee, with input from the Chamber membership, formulates the questions. The cost to attend Breakfast Club is $20 for Chamber Members and $30 for non-members. To register, call the Chamber at (814) 943-8151 or register online. Corporate sponsor of the January Breakfast Club is Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8.
Chamber’s Annual Meeting Set for January 26th
The Blair County Chamber’s Annual Meeting & Awards Presentation will be held on January 26th beginning at 7:30 a.m. at The Casino at Lakemont Park. The event pays tribute to the people and the businesses that helped make 2017 a special year. It also provides the Chamber with the opportunity to officially install its Board of Directors and the Board of the Blair County Chamber Foundation. Adding to this year’s event will be a special recognition for the five businesses that marked 100 years of continuous Chamber membership during 2017. The five are: First National Bank; the law firm of Goldstein, Heslop, Steele, Clapper, Oswalt & Smith; M&T Bank, Penstan Supply and Wolf Furniture Company. The awards that will be presented that morning are the Athena Award, the Small Business Person of the Year, the George Award, the Donna D. Gority Servant Leadership Award, the Joseph P. Rosenhamer Chamber Spirit Award and the Young Professional of the Year. None of the award recipients will be identified in advance, another longstanding tradition. The cost to attend the Annual Meeting & Awards Presentation is $24/person. To register, call the Chamber at (814) 943-8151 or register online.
Sponsorships for Annual Meeting Available One More Week
The Blair County Chamber’s Annual Meeting & Awards Presentation will be held on January 26th at The Casino at Lakemont Park. Sponsorships at several levels are now available for that event by calling Jessie Covert at (814) 943-8151 or emailing her. The deadline to secure a sponsorship is January 15th.
Chamber Recognizes “All-Stars” for December
The Blair County Chamber’s ability to offer quality programming, events, recognition and advocacy efforts depends largely on the willingness of sponsors to step up to help underwrite the costs associated those efforts. So at the end of each month, we publish a list of businesses or individuals who sponsored anything Chamber-related during the month. They have helped us to make a difference in the business community. All-Stars for December are: Altoona Mirror, Hampton Inn and Sheehan Insurance, LLC.
Traveling in 2018? Consider the Chamber’s Greece, Ireland Trips
The Blair County Chamber is offering trips to both Greece and Ireland during 2018. The first trip, “Greece and the Sunny Mediterranean,” departs on July 11th and returns on July 20th. It features a 4-night Greek Isle cruise and four night, first class hotel in Athens. The Mediterranean ports visited are Mykonos, Santorini, Ephesus, Rhodes, Crete and Patmos. The Athens portion of the trip includes tours of the Parthenon & Acropolis, the Olympic Stadium, the Royal Palace and a full-day tour of Mycenae. The Greece Trip, offered through Chamber Discoveries, is $3,699/per person including round trip airfare, hotels and seventeen meals. The second trip – “Celtic Adventure” - departs on October 4th and returns on October 13th. It features Belfast, Galway, Killarney and Dublin with many attractions including Titanic Museum, Giant’s Causeway (with Shuttle Bus), Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College, Cliffs of Moher, Connemara Marble and Galway Crystal. There are city tours of both Belfast and Dublin. The Ireland Trip, offered through Classic Travel, is $2,939/per person including airfare, hotels, full Irish breakfast daily and five hotel dinners. For information on either trip, contact the Chamber at (814) 943-8151.
Chamber Safety Program to Focus on Opioid Crisis
In response to the growing opioid epidemic, the Blair County Chamber of Commerce Safety Committee will hold an educational workshop on Wednesday, January 24th from7:30 to 9:30 a.m., at Hoss’s Steak and Sea House in Duncansville. The workshop, entitled, “The Opioid Crisis: What Does It Mean to Employers?”, will explore various drug-testing options available to employers, ways to create an effective drug policy for employees, and the overall impact the crisis has on the business community. The workshop will be led by Judy Rosser, Executive Director, Blair County Drug & Alcohol Program, and Brehenna Davenport, Director of Clinic Operations, Workplace Health, a Division of Phoenix Rehabilitation. The cost to attend the event is $20 for Chamber Members and $30 for non-members. A buffet breakfast is included. To register, call The Chamber at 943-8151 or register online.
Safety Committee Looking to Expand its Reach
If you are a safety or human resources professional at a local business, the Blair County Chamber’s Safety Committee would like to get you information on a regular basis about upcoming educational programming. To be placed on a contact list, please call Stacy Hoover at (814) 943-8151 or simply email her your contact information at shoover@blairchamber.com.
Have You Posted Positions on the Chamber Job Board Yet? It’s Free!
The Blair County Chamber Website at www.blairchamber.com features a Job Board where member businesses can place up to three positions at no cost. The Job Board concept came about as the result of a meeting held at the Chamber in which local retailers and employment agencies discussed the trials and tribulations of finding interested and qualified employees. The decision to limit businesses to posting only three positions at one time was a recommendation by the Chamber’s Board of Directors who was concerned that larger businesses with multiple openings would make the task of overseeing the Job Board rather labor intensive. Tori Liebal, the Chamber’s Vice-President of Website Development and Social Media, is the staff member assigned to maintain the Job Board. Jobs will remain on the Board for one month unless the employer asks that they be removed or extended. At the present time, Job Board postings are limited to Chamber Members only. (For more information on the Job Board, contact Tori Liebal at 814-943-8151 or email her at tliebal@blairchamber.com.)
“Buy Here Bucks” a Win-Win for Buyers, Sellers
The Blair County Chamber’s new gift certificate program, known as “Buy Here Bucks,” is a way for local businesses to gain new customers and an even better way for people to give gift certificates with more than just a few places to redeem them. The larger the list of participating businesses, the greater the value of the certificates. For a business to register to be on that list (it costs Chamber Members nothing), contact Tori Liebal at (814) 943-8151 or email her at tliebal@blairchamber.com. To purchase Buy Here Bucks, visit the Chamber Website at www.blairchamber.com. You can also get them at the Chamber Office, located in the Devorris Center for Business Development.
Congratulations . . .
. . . to J.C. Orr & Son, Inc., which was one of five contractors recognized recently for having zero lost time due to an accident. The recognition was made during the Keystone Contractors Association’s inaugural Safety Celebration at Seven Springs Resort.
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January 8, 2018
Upcoming Events
Breakfast Club
Thursday, January 11
7:45 - 9:00 a.m.
The Casino at Lakemont Park
Register Here
Safety Program
Wednesday, January 24
7:30 - 9:30 a.m.
Hoss's - Duncansville
Register Here
Business After Hours
Thursday, January 25
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Ingelnook at Presbyterian Village
Register Here
Annual Meeting
Friday, January 26
7:30 -9:30 a.m.
The Casino at Lakemont Park
Register Here
Upcoming Committee Meetings Week of 1/8/18
BASICS Steering Committee
Monday, January 8, 8:00 a.m.
GACTC
BASICS/Rotary Career Fair Subcommittee
Monday, January 8, 1:30 p.m.
Devorris Center
YP of Blair County Committee
Wednesday, January 10, 8:00 a.m.
Devorris Center
Home & Garden Show Committee
Wednesday, January 10, Noon
The Chamber
Small Business Partners Committee
Wednesday, January 10, 3:30 p.m.
The Chamber
Safety Committee
Thursday, January 11, 9:00 a.m
The Chamber
Safety Fair Subcommittee
Thursday, January 11, 10:00 a.m
The Chamber
BASICS Career Development
Thursday, January 11, 1:30 p.m.
Devorris Center
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