October 16th, 2022

Trivia contests are a delightful way for people to escape life's stresses by focusing on the unimportant.

On October 27, however, Chamber's Young Professionals are making trivia important - but still fun! Our YP group is hosting a pre-Halloween trivia night to raise money to cover Chamber memberships for nonprofit organizations - giving them access to the Chamber's marketing, networking and professional development opportunities, without straining their tight budgets. 

We want you to join us for this not-trivial occasion! See below for the details, and pull a few folks together to form your team. See you for a fun evening!

Mark Walden

Program Manager

Young Professionals Trivia Night

Do you run a local nonprofit or do you like to support our local nonprofits?

If so, then this is the event for you! Join us for our annual Trivia Night, hosted by our Young Professionals Affinity Group. 



The Chamber's Young Professionals are pleased to invite you (young or not, professional or not - no questions asked!) to our annual fundraiser for the Chamber's nonprofit members. This year we'll gather for a trivia night at Good Earth Greenhouse, featuring dinner, drinks, costume contest, trivia, and live auction! Proceeds cover Chamber memberships for participating nonprofits. Join us for pre-Halloween fun! 

Monday October 17, 12:15 - 12:45pm - Meditation Monday at Crossfunction Flexible Workspace

Join us at our Chamber program aimed at taking care of you, our small business community. Welcome to our monthly Meditation Mondays! All it takes is half an hour (that's only 30 mins!) for us to help you put your to-do list aside, empty your head of all the chatter and truly look after yourself.

We are thrilled to partner with the Kadampa Meditation Center in Oak Park to bring you this monthly meditation. Rich Zarbock will lead the meditation and talk you through every step. You don't need to do anything but show up and breathe!

Wednesday October 19, 2:00 - 3:00pm - Chamber 102 via Zoom

In this hour we will go over all of the marketing benefits that come with your membership, including:

• How to maximize your e-blast benefits.

• The role of your Member Profile in your marketing advantage and how to track digital traffic.

• How to generate marketing collateral that can be shared in your social media.

• How to tap into our Affinity Groups to grow your network and feature your business.

Wednesday October 19, 5:30 - 7:30pm - Health & Wellness Affinity Group Meeting at Salerno's Pizza of Oak Park

Join us at Salerno's Pizza of Oak Park for our classic Business Card Exchange - meet other providers, exchange cards and build a network that you can trust!

Take a break from networking and support your fellow Chamber friends who have bravely volunteered to tell us their stories of resilience and strength.

This time they will be talking on "Changing the Narrative: Stories of Failure and Resilience."

Help us launch this NEW collaboration with Chamber Member Urban Wellness and their programs that support wellness in our business community.

Thursday October 20, 3:30 - 4:00pm - Ribbon Cutting at American House

This time we'll be at American House Oak Park celebrating this new business, taking pictures of the ribbon cutting, and enjoying a great networking opportunity! Check out this new business and their beautiful building!

Meet the staff and see the elegant setting with floors dedicated to independent living, assisted living, and memory care. 

American House is Oak Park's newest building, not yet open to the public. Come check out this new landmark on Madison Avenue in the middle of Oak Park, and enjoy food and drinks courtesy of our hosts.

Friday October 21, 12:00 - 12:30pm - Takeout Stakeout at New Rose Catering

Come join your fellow Chamber members for our next Takeout Stakeout, this time at New Rose Catering! In this event, we convene at a designated restaurant to pick up our takeout lunch choices, and get to see each other for a bit while we're at it.

Our host is part of the Schoolhouse family of food producers sharing this commercial kitchen space.

Monday October 24, 5:30 - 7:00pm - BIPOC Affinity Group Meeting at Berkshire Hathaway Home Service

This month we'll be at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, hosted by group member Crystal Rodriguez, Realtor with BHHS' ATM Team. Connect with Latinx, Asian-American, Black and indigenous peers from the OPRF business and nonprofit community! 

Come join us to make connections with great folks, and be part of this new group!

Tuesday October 25, 4:30 - 5:00pm - Ribbon Cutting at d'aprile properties

This time we'll be at d'aprile properties celebrating this new business, taking pictures of the ribbon cutting, and enjoying a great networking opportunity! Check out this new business to see what they're all about.

d'aprile is Oak Park's newest real estate agency, ready to serve local homeowners with sales, purchases, and rentals. 

See their space, meet the staff, get to know other Chamber members, and join us for the ribbon cutting and the celebration! 

Wednesday November 2, 5:30 - 7:00pm - DCRE Affinity Group Meeting at Mood - The Shoppe

Local interior designer Candy Scott opened Mood - The Shoppe just this year as a unique store in Oak Park, including furniture of her own design, her Recover line of rehabbed furniture, and decor elements from her native South Africa. She welcomes our group to come talk design and enjoy refreshments! 

Plus, get to know the new co-chairs of the Chamber's Design, Construction and Real Estate Affinity Group! Ray Sahm is a home inspector and owner of Sahm Home Services. Matt Johnston is a broker agent in the Oak Park and River Forest areas.

Thursday November 3, 1:00 - 2:00pm - Nonprofit Affinity Group Meeting at Byline Bank

Come join the Chamber's Nonprofit Affinity Group in the boardroom of Byline Bank for our monthly gathering, and learn from executive coach Robert Demaree. Robert is the founder of Next Step Leadership Coaching, and has spent more than 20 years helping business owners and leaders as a consultant with Accenture and others. His topic today will be "Overcoming Your Immunity to Change." 

Friday November 4, 12:00 - 12:30pm - Takeout Stakeout & Ribbon Cutting at Khyber Pass

Come join your fellow Chamber members for our next Takeout Stakeout, this time at Khyber Pass! In this event, we convene at a designated restaurant to pick up our takeout lunch choices, and make and build connections with our colleagues outside for half an hour before we take our lunches back to work.

Plus, we are celebrating their 25th anniversary! (a couple of years late, because... pandemic!)

This month is Membership Month!

What does this mean for you? If you join the Chamber this month, you will receive 3 free months of membership! That is 3 additional months to network, make connections in the community, join an affinity group, find the events and people to help you grow your business. 

Want to learn more about what the Chamber can do for you? Click on the button below to read about all of the benefits of membership! 

Each month there will be one specific topic that is timely and relevant to the community. Planned topics include:

• November 2, 2022 - "Balanced Boundaries: Healthy Habits When Saying YES & NO"
• December 7, 2022 - "Protect Your Peace: How Not to Kill Your Family or Yourself During Obligatory Gatherings"