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This year’s Health & Wellness Fair is shaping up to be the largest in our history and the largest post pandemic Health Fair in the State of Illinois. A collective group of local and regional health care providers, ranging from our largest hospitals to individual therapists coming together to offer and showcase their resources to both our local and regional communities. These services will be complimentary to the youngest and oldest among us and most importantly to those who are underserved and those without resources.
This is all attributed to the tireless efforts of our Chamber Staff, our Health and Wellness Planning Committee and our 90+ participating vendors. And a special honorable mention to Tasha Carlisle, Chamber Special Events Manager.
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Health & Wellness Fair!
Invite your friends & come along!
Next Sunday, we will have over 90 vendors joining us for this event! Many of the major hospitals are committed to being at the event, including the Presenting Sponsor, RUSH Oak Park Hospital.
The vendors are offering blood pressure checks, comprehensive cardiac screenings, diabetes A1C screenings, Dexa screenings, hearing & vision tests, mental health screenings, genetic cancer screenings, sports medicine and orthopedic screenings, physical therapy consults and so much more!
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We are still looking for a few volunteers. If you would like to help make this event go smoothly, volunteer! The sessions are short and you get to hang out with some pretty great people. | |
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Professional Development
Taking care of our business community!
As part of the lead-up to this year's Health & Wellness Fair, we are launching two professional development courses, facilitated by Riveredge Hospital. These courses are open to all members of the community and the topics have been carefully chosen to apply to the greater business community. The first one took place last week, but there is still time to join the one for this week!
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Wednesday April 19, 9:00 - 10:00am - Stress Management & Coping Strategies in the Workplace via Zoom
This workshop will prioritize learning self-care strategies to reduce stress and improve physical and mental health and well-being. Specifically, you will learn to identify ways to reduce stress both during and after a specific stressful situation, as well as managing consistent, longer-term stress. You will also learn ways to advocate for yourself and others and access tips on how to talk to managers/bosses/coworkers about the stress people feel without fear of repercussions. This will help you to put in place healthy workplace practices to foster a stress-reduced (or stress free!) work environment.
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Plan Your Week!
What is coming up this week?
We know you are busy. To help make it easier and help you to join us at as many things as you would like, we have gathered our events for this week.
We look forward to seeing you there!
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Wednesday April 19, 2:00 - 3:00pm - Chamber 101 via Zoom
In this seminar we will go over all of your digital benefits that come with your membership, including:
- how to significantly increase your SEO
- how to leverage your Member Profile to boost traffic to your own website
- how to track your Member Profile statistics
- how to be sure that your website is linked to your membership
This event is perfect for new members, or those who need a refresher!
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Thursday April 20, 9:30 - 11:00am - #ChamberLOVE Call Campaign!
Love the OPRF Chamber and eager to share your story? Looking for ways to connect with potential referrals and likeminded people? Join us at Grachan Agency for our quarterly Membership Call Campaign!
Haven't done this before or unsure what to say? Don't worry, we will have a script for you.
This is a great way to connect with our members and help them to feel seen, valued and heard!
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Friday April 21, 12:00 - 12:30pm - Takeout Stakeout and Ribbon Cutting at Smoothie King
Join your fellow Chamber members for our next Takeout Stakeout, this time with a ribbon cutting too at the new Smoothie King Oak Park! Come grab your lunch, meet the team, and do some networking all while welcoming this new business into the community. This time, our Takeout Stakeout location is partnering with Fiore to provide a full lunch with a smoothie and a salad!
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Plan Your Month!
Like to plan ahead?
Here are some events we have coming up over the next month so you can register now and receive a reminder right before the event.
Join us for these wonderful networking opportunities and
continue to grow your business!
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Monday April 24, 5:30 - 7:00pm - Stress Management with the BIPOC Affinity Group
Chené Weems of Riveredge Hospital will be speaking on Stress Management. Learn self-care strategies to reduce stress and improve your mental health & well-being while using mindfulness tools and techniques. Chené will be discussing how to identify stressors, how stress affects the body and ways to reduce the stress in your life.
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Thursday April 27, 4:30 - 5:00pm - Ribbon Cutting at the Oak Park Public Library's Creative Studio
Come celebrate with us! This time we'll be at the Oak Park Public Library celebrating their new Creative Studio, taking pictures of the ribbon cutting, and enjoying a great networking opportunity. Discover the fun new equipment they offer for patron use, and enjoy refreshments and good company!
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Friday April 28, 6:00 - 7:00pm - Young Professionals Tacos & Peer Problem Solving
Join us this month at Tacos '76 to dive into a discussion over tacos about the big challenges we are facing as young professionals. Hear how your peers are dealing with similar issues and gain insight from those with more experience.
The Young Professionals meetings are open to everyone, whether young, or young at heart. We would love to see you this month and be able to pull from your experience!
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Thursday May 4, 10:00 - 10:30pm - Ribbon Cutting at Ice Ice Baby
Come celebrate with us! This time we'll be at Ice Ice Baby in River Forest celebrating this new business, taking pictures of the ribbon cutting, and enjoying a great networking opportunity. They are a newly-opened cafe for everyone of any age to come and chill, relax, and taste ice cream, sweets, bakery treats, smoothies, shakes, coffee & hot chocolate. Come meet the Ice Ice Baby team and discover all the tastiness this shop offers!
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Thursday May 4, 1:00 - 2:00pm - Nonprofit Affinity Group: Engaging the Board in Setting Priorities
Come join the Chamber's nonprofit affinity group for our monthly gathering at the Animal Care League. This month is all about board engagement! Our featured resource person for this meeting will be Shailushi Ritchie, founder and CEO of Sevah Consulting. Sevah Consulting is dedicated to serving nonprofits in transition and helping them thrive during periods of major change. Please come be part of the dialogue!
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Wednesday May 17, 5:30 - 7:00pm - Health & Wellness Affinity Group Meetup
Join us at One Lake Brewing to get to know other local Health & Wellness businesses and grow your network of trusted referrals.
We will also be celebrating all the hard work of the Health & Wellness Fair Planning Committee! Come and raise a glass to thank them for all of their hard work.
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With nearly 500 other local businesses, we would love to help you survive these trying times, grow your business and get you more connected into the community.
Our Chamber is all about Community - plain and simple. And this Community knows that "a rising tide floats all boats"...and right now our boats need some float!
We are dedicated to embracing diversity and equity, providing marketing opportunities when you need them, and having a Board of Directors and Staff who reflects our business community and who work tirelessly for you, our small business owners.
Want to learn more, click on the button below, or email us directly!
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New Members
February & March 2023
Help us show some #chamberLOVE to these new Chamber Members by welcoming them into the Oak Park River Forest community! We can't wait to meet you and learn more about your business.
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Complimentary Memberships
February & March 2023
These members joined the Chamber as part of the Village of Oak Park or the Village of River Forest complimentary six-month membership. Join us in sharing the #chamberLOVE by welcoming them all to the Chamber!
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Sweet d'Lush
11:11 Smoke Shop
By Discovery
Fury Falcon LLC
Novy Hair Boutique
Self-Help Federal Credit Union
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Feature your products in the NEW RUSH Oak Park Gift Shop
Calling all local retailers! RUSH Oak Park is interested in featuring local businesses in their newly renovated gift shop! Fill out their Expression of Interest (EOI) form and tell them why you should be chosen. Priority will be given to businesses who are members in good standing of their local Chamber of Commerce.
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The State of Illinois, working in partnership with the NCRC Community Development Fund (NCRC CDF), will open applications for the B2B Restaurants, B2B Hotels, and B2B Creative Arts grant programs.
Eligible existing small businesses who experienced business interruption or adverse conditions due to COVID-19 may apply. Award amounts will vary and are subject to review and adjustment pending application volume, reported losses, and take into account previous grant awards received.
Deadline: May 10
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Are you a business, nonprofit organization, or sole proprietor in the creative sector that suffered losses because of the COVID-19 pandemic? Thanks to advocacy efforts by @Arts Alliance Illinois, the @Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity will distribute $50 million in grant money to those eligible.
Applications for Illinois Creative Recovery (B2B Arts) Grants must be submitted to the DCEO for consideration by May 10 at www.Illinois.gov/B2B. Additional resources from @Arts Alliance Illinois, including access to a help desk and webinars, are available at artsalliance.org/creativerecovery/.
Deadline: May 10
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This eBlast was sent out by the OPRF Chamber of Commerce on behalf of a member in good standing as a member benefit. For information about the event described please contact the host. For information about joining the Chamber, click our website below.
STAY CONNECTED TO THE OPRF CHAMBER
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