My Business Advocate

Building Better Communities by Building Better Businesses

December 2009 Volume 29, Issue 12

Coming Events

Santa Parade 12/5Finance and Executive Board 12/9Board of Directors 12/173rd Fridays! Networking Luncheon 12/18

Chamber Ofce Closed 12/24,25 & 12/31-1/1/103rd Fridays! Networking Luncheon 1/15/10Annual Meeting and Silent Auction 1/22/10

Chamber After Hours 2/113rd Fridays Networking Luncheon 2/19

Calendars on Pages 6 & 7Log on to

www.southkent.org

for details.

Plan to join us on Friday evening, January 22, 2010 as we gather

Noto's Old World ItalianDining

located at 6600 28th

St SE in Cascade for our 29th

Annual Meeting and Awards

Dinner.

Silent Auction to Support 2010 Events

Sponsorships Available

Sponsoring the Annual Meeting andSilent Auction means high visibility at aprice meant to t your business budget.With your pre-paid sponsorship, yourcompany name will appear on all thepre-event publicity, in press releases,on nearly 500 event invitations and on

a banner at the event.

Donations are now being accepted

at the Chamber Ofce for our nextSilent Auction Fundraiser. Weare looking for merchandise, giftcards and gift baskets that will

encourage our members to bid

high and bid often. All proceedsbenet 2010 Chamber Programs.You may receive a call from

someone on the committee askingfor your donation. We hope youcan take advantage of this funopportunity to remind those

attending the Annual Meeting

and Awards Dinner that you're amember.

We'll wrap up 2009, gear upfor 2010 and recognize specialaccomplishments by volunteers andarea businesses at our 29th AnnualMeeting and Awards Dinner. There will be bidding at the SilentAuction during the evening, upuntil we present the Business of the Year Awards. Proceeds will beused to benet 2010 Events asoutlined in the Program of Workcompleted by your newly elected

Board of Directors.

Watch for your invitation

in the

mail in early January and send

in your RSVP right away. Don'tforget to make reservations for yourguests at the same time.

Unlike many things lately, thecost to attend the Annual Meetingremains $45 per person with your

reservation before January 15.

Reservations are only $65 from January 16. Cost at the door willbe $85. Many sponsorships include

reservations for dinner.

Get the details

and register on

line at www.southkent.org or email

sue@southkent.org for assistance.

Your donated auction items will be displayed with your company name and/or logo and include a mention in the Auction Catalog. Companies donating will be mentioned from the podium during the Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner.

Community RoundtableGroup Now Forming

Mishelle Bakewell from Metro HealthHospital will be chairing WKACC's2010 Community Roundtable.Meetings start in January. Thiscommittee is just forming.Community Roundtable is aninformal forum for business,government and educational sectorsto come together monthly to discussrelevant issues and concerns.Contact Mishelle at (616) 252-4779or email mishelle.bakewell@metrogr.

org.

YOUR CHAMBER MANAGEMENT

2009 Board of Directors

*indicates Executive Committee Member

*John Crawford - President & CEO*Todd Duncan - Consumers Energy, Board Chair*Steve Marshall- MAS Advisory Service, Chair, Fin. &Budget*Norine Mulvihill - Sr. V. Chair - American DiabetesAssociation*Kathey Batey - Priority Health/SpiritedPresentations*Brent Holland - Chameleon Ltd.*Skip Knapp - EdwardJones Investments*Tom Kruisenga - The Kruisenga Agency, PastChair*Brent Vander Kolk - Vander Kolk & Vander KolkPLC, Legal Counsel

Community Relations Division (Blue)*Kathey Batey - Vice ChairTommy Brann - Brann’s Steakhouse & GrilleDan Van Dyke - PCO Associates, LLC*Brent Vander Kolk - Vander Kolk & VanderKolk,.PLCLillian VanderVeen - Lenger Travel ServicesMember Relations Division (Red)*Brent Holland - Vice ChairRichard Chrisman - Hungerford, Aldrin, Nichols &CarterDanna Mathiesen - Mercantile BankJohn Schwartz - AT&TMembership Development Division (Gold)*Skip Knapp - Vice ChairBob O'Callaghan - Citadel BroadcastingRob Wells - VantagePointe Financial GroupFinancial Development Division (Green)*Norine Mulvihill - Sr. Vice ChairBetsy Artz - Loeks Theaters (Celebration Cinema)Joel Iakiri - Huntington Bank

David Szidik - Proforma Innite Marketing

Matt Uhl - National City

Ex-Ofcio

Carol Sheets - City of Wyoming, MayorRichard Root - City of Kentwood, MayorCurtis Holt - City of Wyoming, ManagerBill Doren - Chamber Foundation Chair

My Business Advocate,

Building Better Communities by Building Better Businesses

Opinion by John

December 2009By John J. Crawford, Jr.President & CEO

Thanksgiving and Other Thoughts

This has been an amazing year of Hope for many and

Change for others.

I hope you are looking at winding up 2009 with a bignish and are making plans for a better 2010.I am sure that there are many people that you know thatare heading into the holidays with a little fear, anxietyand depression. My Pastor at church correctly pointedout that it’s impossible for Anxiety, Depression andGratefulness to co-exist in the same heart at the same

time.

As we are coming off a great Thanksgiving weekend, it’smy hope that you can think about that idea for a couple

minutes.

Fear is a powerful paralyzer, but now is the time foreach of us to take positive actions in building ourbusinesses. Taking time to reect, to give real thanks for

the opportunities that you do have and for the myriad

of other gifts, blessings, people and friends in your life. That’s often the prescription you need to allay anxietyand doubt. From there, you’ll be ready to go - takingaction on your plan shouldn’t be far behind.A huge gift in my life that I’ll remain grateful for is theopportunity to work with so many passionate, dedicatedpeople in the Chamber and in our Community. This istruly a unique seat to hold and the view has been great!

The active members in this Chamber are fantastic! Need

a lift? Get around some WKACC members a few times!

Santa Parade Dec 5, 10:00 AM

I urge you to do a couple things – get involved on aChamber Committee or Project and recommend acompany or colleague that you know to join you inChamber Membership. You’ll be well on your way tobuilding new and lasting friendships and businessrelationships. You’ll have a lot of fun and, when youlook back on it, a wealth of people and experiences to bethankful for!If you want to get in the right frame of mind, have a lotof fun and show off your Company, contact the ChamberNOW at 616 531-5990 to arrange to participate in theSanta Parade THIS Saturday, Dec 5! Details can be

found at www.southkent.org.

Thanks for all that you do! It’s important and it’s

appreciated!

At least that’s my

Opinion by John.

Wyoming-Kentwood Area Chamber of CommerceNominate Businesses of the Year 2009

The Chamber’s Businesses of the

Year Awards will be presented onFriday evening, January 22, 2010 atthe Chamber’s Annual Meeting. Thisis our chance to recognize exceptional

area businesses in each of three cate

gories for going above and beyond the

call of duty. This has been another

great year for many enterprises and

the Chamber wants to celebrate byrecognizing outstanding businessesin these classes.

The Chamber Executive Committee

serve as the judging committee and will be looking at several areas of contribution. It is possible to win withcontributions in just one area.Although it is encouraged and willlikely be used as a tie breaker, Cham-ber Membership is not a requirement

to be a nominee or to submit a nomi

nation. Contributions of the nomi

-nees must have been in the 2009calendar year.

Submission deadlineis Monday, December 14, 2009.

Award Nomination Criteria.

Business Operations

Activity that

exemplies community leadershipand/or exceptional customer servicein a retail, service or manufacturing

business.

Areas Include:Chamber Support

Activity or con

tribution which is above and beyond

the call of Chamber membership and which helped the Chamber of Com-

merce further its mission in some

signicant way.

Economic Development

Activity

that resulted in the creation of jobsor an increase in wealth or capitalinvestment in the Wyoming-Kent-

wood Area.

Education

Development or partici-

pation in training and education pro

-grams resulting in a better-trained workforce either currently or for the

future.

Humanitarian Efforts

Activities

or signicant contributions that re-sulted in the improvement of humanconditions anywhere in the world.

Quality of Life

Coordination of any

local project or activity that improvedthe quality of life for residents of theGreater Wyoming-Kentwood com-

munity.

Forms must be received at the Chamber ofces by 5:00 pm onMonday, December 14, 2009. You may also e-mail form to

sue@southkent.org

Wyoming-Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce



590 32

Street SE



Wyoming, MI 49548

Businesses of the Year 2009NOMINATION FORM

Category (check one):



Retail



Manufacturing



Service

Nominee’s Company Name:

___________________________________________________

Address:

___________________________________________________________________

City, State: _____________________________________

Zip:

___________________

Contact Name:

_____________________________

Phone: ____________

____________

Nominator’s Name:

__________________________

Relationship to Nominee:

_________

Nominator’s e-Mail:

___________________________

Phone:

_______________________

Please provide a detailed description of the nominee’s contributions on a second sheet of paper. Explain whenand under what circumstances these contributions were made. Please provide as much detailed informationas possible relative to career, family, education and volunteer commitments. A judging committee shall revieweach nomination and select a winning organization in each category. The judges’ decisions shall be nal.Complete and return the form to Sue Bynum via mail to the Wyoming-Kentwood Area Chamber of Commerce,590 32

Street SE, Wyoming, MI 49548-2345, or fax to 616-531-0252 or e-mail tosue@southkent.or