As we move towards the spring, there's a lot going on at your Santa Rosa County Chamber. First, a great big welcome to our newest staff addition Melanie Watson! Melanie comes to us through the AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps is a national network of programs that engages more than 70,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet critical needs in communities throughout the nation, but... it requires participating organizations to provide a portion of the cash funding. Thanks to the new revenue stream from Bonfirejam's partnership, we have enough funding to cover our portion of the AmeriCorps program. Best of all, Melanie is a proud resident of Santa Rosa County, hailing from Pace! Feel free to stop by and welcome Melanie in person.
Things are changing for the better around your Chamber. New investment in technology with a document center and replacement of an outdated computer will provide better operating efficiency at the Chamber. Also, a great big "THANK YOU!!!" to Brett Scott of Asphalt Armor for the fantastic job he did repaving and restriping the Chamber parking lot FOR FREE!! That's our kind of price!
Military Appreciation Month is May and that's right around the corner. Kristal Kelley has assembled an outstanding team of volunteers who are working hard to spotlight and say thank you to such a vital part of our community, our military. Check out the articles in the March edition of the Santa Rosan newsletter on what Kristal and her team are up to and opportunities for you to participate.
We're also just a month away from kicking off our second annual GAME-ON membership drive! Our Team Captains have been selected and recruitment is underway for those who want to play. We had a lot of fun and added a good number of new members last year, so we can't wait to see how this year's captains fire up their teams! Contact Donna at the Chamber if you want to be a part of this year's drive.
Our Local Legislative Coalition, a partnership with our Chamber, as well as Jay and Pace Chambers, meets later this month to plan a State level workshop. Like the County workshop we did last year, this one will take a look at State regulations and requirements for starting a new business. We're partnering with Governor Scott's "Department of Economic Opportunity" to look at the process and find ways to cut the amount of time it takes for a new business to get up and operating in our State. Patty Nelson, who heads up the DEO for Gov. Scott, will come over for our meeting middle of the month. This is a great honor for our group to be asked to work on this project.
As you can tell, we're got a lot of opportunities for you to get involved with your Chamber. Feel free to reach out to either Donna or me if you find a place you would like to volunteer. Thanks for making your Chamber successful in supporting the growth of local business in our community!
