“We made it through!” seemed to be the buzz about the room as outgoing and incoming Hope/Hempstead County Chamber of Commerce board members and officers attended the first coffee of the of 2010.
Bitsy Carter is the new incoming president. Carter has been associated with the Chamber for 10 years, according to Chamber Executive Director Mark Keith.
Carter was ready to speak about her plans for the upcoming year. Carter talked about three things she hopes to accomplish as president.
She hopes to bring a contact committee back to the Chamber, which is something practiced in the past.
“They are a group that establishes volunteers from different businesses that help with Chamber events. They help with the banquet and set up and run the silent auction at the banquet. In the past we had a group of worker bees that did things for us such as answer the phone and fold t-shirts. They try to be at all the events,” Carter said.
Carter hopes to further pursue an incentive already begun by Keith to encourage Hope citizens to shop in Hope for their needs.
“Whether we realize it or not, 80 percent of the money we spend here, stays here,” she said.
Carter also wants to help the public gain awareness of the significance of the Chamber of Commerce.
“An individual business can’t always make a difference, but the Chamber is here to collectively pull businesses in to work together to support our local economy,” she said.
Becky Williams, past president, had outgoing comments.
“We had a great year with a lot of new stuff going on. We had a great concert, a great banquet,” Williams said.
Williams was president as the Chamber partnered with other community organizations to bring big name entertainment, Tracy Byrd, to the Hope Watermelon Festival in 2009.
Williams and Carter agreed that board members and officers had a great year as far as attendance and involvement in Chamber events. They also said bringing in big name entertainment for next year’s Watermelon Festival is a “definite.”
“We had, probably, the most active board in the seven years I have been on the board,” Williams said. She said a lot of help and participation is what it takes to pull off Chamber events.
“I think we had a very prosperous year for a very tough time,” she said.
The 2010 officers include Bitsy Carter, president; Larry Garlington, first vice president; Steve Montgomery, second vice president, and Wendy Jones, treasurer.
