Beaver County Chamber President Helen Kissick’s April Message
Who would have thought that a change that is so disruptive to every part of American life would occur, shifting everyone’s focus from routine life and planning for the future to the survival of our businesses and the health and safety of our employees and families. Our world and business climate have come to a significant detour for many, and a screeching halt for others, all due to COVID-19 (also known as the Coronavirus).
So, how do we deal with it. First of course, we need to protect our people. Second, we need to go into triage to keep our organizations afloat so we can help our members and our communities remain viable during this crisis. Third, we need to provide information resources so that our members and community can survive until longer time help arrives. And finally, we need to be there to help others who are not able to deal with this crisis as effectively as others. The Beaver County Chamber of Commerce and others in the business support and economic development community are committed to provide support for our businesses through this crisis and after it is over. We are in constant contact with our public and private sector partners at the local, state and federal level in monitoring and communicating programs and initiatives
to help business and industry impacted by COVID-19. Our website (www.bcchamber.com) home page now includes a red bar at the top of the page with this message: Beaver County Chamber COVID-19 Update – Click Here to provide easy access to resources. Check back periodically as the resources are changing frequently.
While our physical Chamber office is closed, we remain fully ‘OPEN FOR BUSINESS’. We encourage members and non-members alike to call the Chamber’s office at 724 775 3944 for questions regarding doing business in this challenging environment. We stand ready to serve, and will continue, especially under these circumstances, to stay focused in our quest to foster the best environment in Beaver County to live, work and do business. You can also reach Chamber staff via email at info@bcchamber.com. Like so many other businesses, our staff is working from home offices now. We’re finding our way in our new reality, and it is our sincere hope that our members continue to reach out to us and each other in support.
The impact of COVID-19 on our many local small businesses is, no doubt, going to be significant. I’m personally fielding many calls from business owners as to how to operate in this environment. There are several key messages I would like to share with you. The first one is that we, together, can continue to make a positive difference in small but significant ways. The graphic below summarizes it well.
Second, our Chamber will be notifying its members through routine electronic communications of upcoming webinars and other information sharing forums. Our aim is for members to be able to pick and choose topics relevant to them in this complex business environment. For small business owners especially, they don’t always have access to expert guidance in a way that is convenient for them, so our
aim is to overcome that hurdle. Topics and presenters will vary, for example, this week we had:
• Make remote work secure, convenient and stress free
• Coronavirus Labor and employment updates
• COVID-19 Resources & Relief for Small Businesses
Our Chamber is well known for hosting a number of high quality, productive, in-person networking events. We’ve been forced to adapt our approach, and as such will not offer face-to-face networking through at least the end of April.
Specific changes include:
• Annual Gala & Auction – postponed from March 14th to August 29th
• Annual Congressional Breakfast, April 7th – canceled
• Spring Luncheon, April 16th – canceled
• Leadercast, May 7th – canceled
- Breakfast club and lunch-and-learns – canceled through end of April
We will continue to provide information during this ever-evolving situation as we adjust our events offering. Stay tuned on further updates via our Chamber website (www.bcchamber.com) or via communications direct with to our membership.
I’ll close in saying we are your friends and your neighbors, all in this together. Stay safe and healthy!