Hileman's selected as ACE Award recipients
Regional purchasing group to ramp-up buy local program
Legislative Action Committee facing ambitious agenda
Breakfast Club to feature Eichelberger Q&A
Chamber handling registrations for Economic Outlook, Job Expo
Financial empowerment topic of WE-LEaD Lunch'N'Learn
Chamber Marketing Survey deadline is Friday
Home & Garden Show discount ends Sept. 14
Regional Expo featuring free marketing workshops
Drugs in the Workplace is September safety program
Let The Chamber help you with regulatory compliance
Congratulations. . . 

Hileman's selected as ACE Award recipients 
David and Janet Hileman of Sinking Valley are the 2010 recipients of The Chamber’s Agricultural Community Excellence (ACE) Award. The Hileman’s were selected by a subcommittee of the Farm-City Committee for their outstanding work in the Blair County farm community for nearly four decades. “The Hileman’s have certainly had a major impact on the positive things that have taken place in our county, not only in agriculture but in education as well,” remarked Janet Hines of Hines Feed Store, who chairs the Farm-City Committee. “The selection process for the ACE Award is always difficult because there are so many worthy nominees. It was hard for our subcommittee to believe that the Hileman’s hadn’t already won the award.” The ACE Award will be presented at the annual Farm-City Dinner on Oct. 26 at The Park at Morrisons Cove. 

Regional purchasing group to ramp-up buy local program  
Representatives from five chambers of commerce in the region will meet today in Duncansville to explore ways to make businesses and consumers in the area more aware of the need to buy local. “Awareness is the key,” explained Blair County Chamber President Joe Hurd. “We’ve got several of the pieces in place with the Buy the Alleghenies business directory and a couple other well-placed initiatives. It’s time to invest in the next marketing steps that will create a local buying mindset.” Besides Blair, the chambers represented will be from Bedford, Cambria, Huntingdon and Somerset counties. 

Legislative Action Committee facing ambitious agenda 
With so many legislative challenges facing business today, it’s not surprising that one of The Chamber’s busiest committees is the Legislative Action Committee. When that committee meets on Thursday morning at the Devorris Center, it will strategize a number of important business issues and set the stage for upcoming meetings to tackle those issues. “Business Taxes, Municipal Cooperation, Healthcare, Energy – they’re all on our radar screen,” admitted committee chair Clark Stapelfeld of New Pig Corporation. “We need to address them all in one form or another and then get them in front of the appropriate agencies and elected officials.” Stapelfeld encourages Chamber Members interested in being part of the process to contact Joe Hurd at The Chamber (943-8151) to either voice their opinions or, even better, to join the committee.  “We represent the members,” Stapelfeld pointed out. “Their input is critical.”  

Breakfast Club to feature Eichelberger Q&A 
State Sen. John Eichelberger, Jr. will answer questions posed by Chamber Members at the next Breakfast Club meeting, set for Sept. 9 at 7:45 a.m. at The Casino at Lakemont Park. Clark Stapelfeld, chair of The Chamber’s Legislative Action Committee, will moderate the Q&A session. Questions submitted by last Friday’s deadline will be asked first. If time permits, the senator will take questions from the audience. The cost to attend Breakfast Club is $16 for Chamber Members and $30 for non-members. To register, call The Chamber at 943-8151 or register online. The corporate sponsor for the September Breakfast Club is Mount Aloysius College.   

Chamber handling registrations for Economic Outlook, Job Expo 
With three weeks remaining until the 2010 Blair County Economic Outlook & Job Expo, Chamber Members are reminded that all registrations for the Economic Outlook and all the reservations for exhibitor space is being handled through The Chamber. “Everything is coming here,” Chamber President Joe Hurd acknowledged. “So members of the AMCVB, board members of ABCD and the general public will all be steering people in this direction.” The Economic Outlook will begin at 7:30 a.m. with a buffet breakfast followed by a presentation on Blair County economic data by David Passmore and Rose Baker of Penn State University. Rich Overmoyer from GSP Consulting in Pittsburgh will analyze the data and speculate on future opportunities for Blair County. A video presentation will follow and the event will conclude with a keynote address by Congressman Bill Shuster. At 10 a.m., the Job Expo will open and will stay open until 1 p.m. It will re-open at 4 p.m. for an additional three hours. The cost to attend the Economic Outlook is $25-per-person. The cost to be an exhibitor at the Job Expo is $125 and includes one registration for the Economic Outlook. To register for either, contact The Chamber at 943-8151 or register online.  

Financial empowerment topic of WE-LEaD Lunch'N'Learn 
Women need to take control of their financial futures if they hope to achieve financial independence. How? That question and much more will be answered at the next “WE-LEaD” Lunch’N’Learn program, scheduled for Sept. 22 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at The Blairmont Club.  Barbara Kooman, financial advisor at Kooman & Associates, will present, “The Female Factor – Financial Empowerment Part II.” The cost to attend is $22 for Chamber Members, $17 if three or more from the same Chamber Member business attends and $30 for non-members.  To register, call The Chamber at 943-8151 or register online. Space is limited. Register today!

Chamber Marketing Survey deadline is Friday
A survey geared to help The Chamber to better meet the needs of the business community was sent via email to all main reps of Chamber Member businesses. The survey results will serve as the basis of a marketing plan that will be compiled by The Chamber’s Marketing Committee. The survey takes less than five minutes to complete. Click here to complete the survey. Deadline to submit is Sept. 3. if you need login information to complete the survey, contact The Chamber at 943-8151. 

Home & Garden Show discount ends Sept. 14
The 41st Annual Blair County Home & Garden Show will be held on March 4,5 and 6, 2011, at the Jaffa Shrine. “Even seven months out we’ve had a number of past exhibitors ask when they could sign-up,” disclosed Stacy Hoover, The Chamber’s Vice-President of Events & Technology. “The Home & Garden Show Committee felt that we might as well get the process started.” Hoover believes that the success of the 2010 show is responsible for the increased level of early enthusiasm. “The attendance at the last show was up more than 35 percent from the previous year,” she pointed out. “It’s our intention to build on that.” One immediate advantage for anyone completing an exhibitor application and submitting a deposit by Sept. 14 is a 5 percent discount off the booth price. As far as booth locations, past exhibitors will have until Sept. 30 to retain their previous spots. After that, new exhibitors can select where they’d like to be. To receive an application or for more information, contact Stacy Hoover at 943-8151. 

Regional Expo featuring free marketing workshops
Have you already made your plans to exhibit at the 2010 Central PA Regional Business & Industry Expo? Are you thinking about exhibiting?  Then you should attend one of the free workshops being offered in cooperation with the Expo. The dates are Sept. 9 and Sept. 30, the venue is the boardroom of the Chamber of Business & Industry of Centre County and the title of the workshop is, “Effective Marketing Through Trade Shows.” The workshops will help you with all aspects of marketing before, during and after the trade show. Call the CBICC today to register for either of the workshops at 234-1829. To register for the Expo, download and return a registration form. For more information, contact Stacy Hoover at 943-8151.

Drugs in the Workplace is September safety program The Chamber’s Safety Committee will open its 2010-11 workshop series on Sept. 24 with a half-day event at the Ramada Altoona Conference Center. The program, entitled “Drugs in the Workplace,” will begin with registration and a buffet breakfast at 7:30 a.m. followed by the program which runs until 11:30 a.m. Speakers for the workshop are Tom Churbock, Safety Coordinator at Appleton; Bobbie Miller, President/Owner of Advantage Resource Group; and Keynote Speaker Randy Feathers, Narcotics Agent in the Office of Attorney General. The cost to attend is $25 for Chamber Members and $35 for non-members. To register, call The Chamber at 943-8151 or register online. 

Let The Chamber help you with regulatory compliance
The Chamber recognizes that many businesses, particularly small businesses, have a difficult time in things like hiring, regulatory compliance and recordkeeping. For that reason, the organization has purchased several publications that it is willing to lend to interested Chamber Members. The publications are: Principles of Payroll Administration, Pennsylvania Human Resources Manual, Model Policies and Forms for Pennsylvania Employers, An Employer’s Guide to Employee Benefits, Guide to FMLA and ADA , Employment Verification and Employer’s Guide to Wage and Hour. To borrow a publication, contact Joe Hurd at 943-8151.

Congratulations . . .
. . . to WPSU-TV which recently received several Mid-Atlantic Emmy nominations from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  The Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards, now in its 28th year, recognize excellence in programming and individual achievement in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

. . . Juniata College, which jumped twelve spots from a 2009 poll to place 77th in the college rankings poll for liberal arts colleges nationwide. The poll was created by Washington Monthly magazine.

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