President’s Message

Close to a month has already passed since we started this new decade.  Your Beaver County Chamber of Commerce is off to a solid start on its intentions and plans for this coming year, in order to bring the great value to members they have come to expect.  In 2020 we intend to grow our membership from ~550 members at year end 2019 to over 600 twelve months later.

One key ingredient in achieving this goal is to provide top notch quality events and programming, with a blend that suits the need of our varied Chamber membership.  In this month’s column, we will delve deeper in to the various and numerous events and programming offered by the Chamber.  In addition, we’ll let you in on a bit of our secret sauce for driving and retaining membership: our Chamber’s Membership Committee.

 

A quick review of January showcases the breath of Chamber offerings:

• Jan 8^th was the year’s first monthly lunch-and-learn session held at CCBC’s (Community College of Beaver County) new library maker’s space. This lecture followed by Q&A session addressed common causes of low back pain and sciatica and steps to quick and natural healing.  The Chamber will hold lunch-and-learn meetings each month going forward.  Contact the Chamber if you have an interest in presenting a topic!
• Jan 16^th was the Legislative Welcome Reception, held at the Hilton Garden Inn. With a record setting nearly 100 participants, we welcomed local government officials to their either newly elected or re-elected positions.   A picture of elected officials in attendance is shown here.
• Jan 17^th was the 5^th monthly session of the 2^nd cohort for the Beaver County Leadership The 15 enrolled participants dug deeper into the topics of effective meeting management, financial literacy and leadership in the field of health care.  Soon we will begin to accept applications for the 3^rd cohort, ready for launch in September.  This program’s aim is to develop the next wave of leadership in / for our county.
• Jan 23^rd was our Speed Networking event, held at The Lodge at Penn State’s Beaver campus. 50 participants shared their elevator speeches and had the opportunity to strengthen and add to their network.  The room was positively abuzz, and it is likely we’ll plan for another such event later in 2020 given the strong response.
• Jan 10^th and 24^th saw Breakfast Club meetings held at the Chamber’s offices in downtown Beaver. Both events had a great turnout ranging from 15 to 20 people, allowing for a more intimate opportunity to network that our smaller businesses in particular express high appreciation for.  Presentation topics were the upcoming census and event marketing 101.

Looking ahead to February and March, in addition to our routine programs, we’re thrilled to offer the following major events:

• February 4^th is the Annual State of the County Breakfast, held at the Fez from 8-10 AM. This event features our Beaver County Commissioners Dan Camp, Jack Manning and Tony Amadio, moderated by KDKA – TV’s Jon Delano.
• March 14^th is the Annual Gala & Auction, held at The Club at Shadow Lakes starting at 5 PM. Get ready to make a splash!  This year will have an underwater theme that is sure to intrigue and please.

Check the Chamber’s website at www.beavercountychamber.com or call us at 724-775-3944 for additional details and other events.

I mentioned earlier that we have some secret sauce! The Chamber’s Membership Committee does a marvelous job at driving new membership and retaining current members.  This committee consists of volunteer members Chairperson Brittney Golden (Hilton Garden Inn – Beaver Valley), Rebecca Miller (Miller Agency), Tracy Plevel (Gateway Rehab), Maria Corradi (Brown, Corradi & Guandolo Wealth Management of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC) & Robert Riggins (World Kinect Energy Services) who are helping Kaitlyn Poleti (the Chamber’s Marketing & Membership Director) to plan and execute key initiatives.  I would like to do a ‘shout out’ to Tracy Plevel, who many of our members know as the person behind the highly popular, short video clips we have been posting on the Chamber’s social media pages.  Check them out!  We appreciate everyone involved in making our Chamber come alive through this creative tool.

It our hope and aim to serve and delight our current and prospective members to the Chamber with all that we offer.  We all remember Fred Rogers asking, “Won’t you be our neighbor?”.  We’ll rephrase for our purposes and say: “Won’t you be our member?”  We invite you to join our / your Beaver County Chamber of Commerce!

This important community update is brought to you by Beaver Falls Municipal Authority, 1st Consultants, Strassburger, McKenna, Gutnick & Gefsky, Ambridge Regional Chamber of Commerce, Skerlec Contracting, and NovaCare! 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s legal team is preparing to wrap up arguments in his impeachment trial as Sen. Mitch McConnell and other Republicans wrestle with whether to allow witnesses. The arguments from defense lawyers have jostled for public attention against revelations from a forthcoming book by former national security adviser John Bolton. He says Trump wanted to withhold military aid from Ukraine until it committed to helping with investigations into Democratic rival Joe Biden. That assertion matters because Trump and his lawyers have repeatedly insisted that he never tied the suspension of security aid to political investigations.

Lyin’, nervous and dumb as a rock. As his impeachment defense continues, President Donald Trump hit Twitter with a stream of insults aimed at Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other top Democrats. Trump made reference to – quote “Our case against lyin’ cheatin’ Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Crying’ Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC”. Trump also urged his supporters to continue to watch the proceedings on his favored news sources: Fox News and the right-wing One America News Network. He trashed CNN as “Fake News” and suggested that MSNBC is a front for Democrats.

(Photo courtesy of the Beaver Falls Fire Department)

Tom Mallory – the owner of Murphil Cleaners, which is next door to the Beaver Falls home that burned down yesterday – initially indicated that wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to open today because his business has water and smoke damage inside. But this morning, Mallory told Beaver County Radio newsman Pat Septak that it’s business as usual today…

We asked Mallory about the extent of damage to his business…

Mallory says his business opened at its regular time this morning.

(All pictures courtesy of the Beaver Falls Fire Department)

Four people were transported to a hospital following a Monday evening fire in Beaver Falls. Fire Chief Mark Stowe tells Beaver County Radio newsman that the two-alarm blaze broke out in a two-story frame house shortly before 5:30 p.m. in the 24-hundred block of Eighth Ave…

Chief Stowe says two firefighters partially fell through the floor…but weren’t hurt:

Chief Stowe says the home is a total loss…

Chief Stowe says the cause of the fire is under investigation…

Fire officials say the four victims were treated for smoke inhalation and all are expected to recover.

Residents have raised concerns…after a coyote had been sighted several times in a densely populated residential area in Hopewell Township. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano has more. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

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