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FACES & PLACES POW                                                                                  
Last month, 15 Vision FW members spent part of a Saturday afternoon helping out at the Salvation Army Angel Tree Distribution Center. Members helped to fulfill orders in the "toy shop", carried bags of gifts to cars for clients, and directed long lines of traffic for order pickup and more.  The afternoon turned rainy and cold but our members served clients with smiles knowing that the gifts would bring happiness to many come Christmas morning.  Vision FW members can check out upcoming events online here.

L to R: Erica Robinson, Tarleton State University; Luda Starostyuk, UTA; Nicole Browne, Downtown FW Inc.
PRESS YOUR LUCKPrizes
Click on the links below to enter for prizes

Clubbin': An entrepreneur friend says his membership "and space" at Topgolf Fort Worth is less expensive than renting office space. His typical 9-hour day at Topgolf? Eat, golf, meeting, golf, meeting, golf, drink, golf, drink. Topgolf sales sensation Crystal Cardwell says the entrepreneur has eagled the opportunity, but par for the course more likely would be the many corporations that hold kickoff meetings, sales and board meetings, executive retreats, awards lunches and dinners at the facility. Throw in the all-star kitchen, the service AND the golf and you've Masters-ed corporate success. Crystal and playing partner Anna aced this giveaway with a bay for up to six people on a Friday or Saturday night, two appetizers and two hours of game play. 

Scout's honor! A Girl Scout's worse nightmare would be knocking on the door of Larry David, star of Curb Your Enthusiasm. David has had at least three episodes during his HBO TV series that highlighted Girl Scouts ... and it doesn't end well for the girls in any of them, including one where David berates the girls and won't pay for his cookies. Fortunately, you won't have to pay, either, as Jessica Lewis of the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains has arranged for one reader to receive one case of S'mores cookies and one case of your choice. Mr. B may keep this giveaway hisownself, because he's gets teary-eyed thinking about boxes of the peanut butter sandwich and Thin Mints. 

Towne talk: Telling someone you are suite-ing at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott Fort Worth Southwest/TCU Area is a mouthful. As are the counters of hot and cold breakfast goodies that overnight guests receive complimentary. TownePlace is the kind of place to get your relax on. A comfy bed with adjoining living area. A pool, a fitness center, a business desk in your room to keep in touch with the slouches that are working while you're vacay-ing. Venture out just two miles for some of the better hiking/biking trails in Fort Worth; you might even see Mayor Price Is Right. Your price is right thanks to Rebecca Diaz, who has a bed already made up for one reader's night's stay and breakfast.

How wide are those Bass Hall aisles? This is not your father's David Bowie Let's Dance version, but the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra expects you to be up swirling and twirling Jan. 28 when it performs music for "a range of popular dance styles, including waltz, tango, swing, '50s pop, cha-cha and 'dirty dancing.'" Seven professional dancers strut their stuff amidst the orchestra and two vocalists, who will sing music from Peggy Lee's "Fever" and "Dirty Dancing." Melanie (what the) Hecht orchestrated a pair of tickets for this giveaway. 


Congratulations to the January 3rd Prize Winners:
  • Justin Light, Pope, Hardwicke, Christie, Schell, Kelly & Taplett
  • Chad Snyder, Collier's
  • Cara Kennemer, Underwood Law Firm
  • Stacy Vann, Deloitte
  • Manuel Ortiz, Signarama Fort Worth
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HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAIDSoundBytes
Fortify: Those five pillars in the Chamber's strategic plan for economic development are now four. Business Attraction and Existing Business Retention and Expansion have been combined. The other three are Talent Development, Retention and Attraction; Small Business and Entrepreneur Support; and Advocacy. Two threads running through all four pillars are International and Quality of Place. As many as 15-20 positions will be added and filled through re-organization and hires, including a Senior Vice President for each pillar. Financing the plan is ongoing. The name of the plan is Fortify.

Not everything is black & white: Tracy (Cliburn) Georges, part of the Industrial Team at Transwestern, says she is a third cousin to Van Cliburn, but admittedly doesn't seem to have inherited his skills. "I will have you know," she said, "that I play a pretty mean Chopsticks."

Name game: Fort Worth author Landon Wallace has released his second novel, The Election, and is working on its sequel The Next Election. Kelly Hart attorney Dee Kelly Jr. told Fort Worth Inc. magazine's Scott Nishimura how his writing pseudonym of Landon Wallace came to be: "We put 10 names in a hat, each of which could have been the first name or last name. The first two out, we put them together. It was as simple as that."

Not the Kit Kat Klub: A new 70-seat venue -- Reid Cabaret Theatre at Casa MaƱana -- has a ribbon cutting today with its first cabaret-style performance scheduled Feb. 8. Casa says experiencing events in the Reid Cabaret Theatre will be similar to stumbling into the past, watching Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett or Liza Minnelli at a favorite club. First up is Michael Cunio, who performed in Jersey Boys and Hairspray.

Ground forces: For the second year in a row, CBS Sports rates the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl third-best game among all 39 bowl games. Kudos to Brant Ringler and his team. Army beat San Diego State, 42-35, and threw just one pass in doing so.

Very artsy: The first commissioned piece for the city's Fort Worth Public Art commission was by artists Vernon Fisher and Donald Lipski, an installation at the Fort Worth Convention Center in 2005. There are 102 pieces now, which you can check out online to see how many you've noticed.

"Recruiting kids is different because of Twitter. Kids know I work late. They are DM'ing me after midnight."

--Gary Patterson
TCU head football coach
Shop small: Next Wednesday, you can meet the Chamber's Small Business of the Year finalists at a Business After Hours at Cendera Center. Except for the bi-annual Business After Hours we do in Paris, this is the best one of the year. Great networking, inspirational stories and fab food/drinks. The finalists are: Emerging Businesses: Alchemy Pops, CAET Project Management Consultants and Site Barricades; 1-10 Employees: Affairs Afloat Balloons, Healthy Lifestyle Secrets and The Paisley Heart; 11-50 Employees: iKids Pediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, Muckleroy & Falls and Pointwise; 51-150 Employees: BorrowWorks, Case Associates and StraCon Services Group. In addition to $1 million in prize money, press conferences, media blitzes, free mentoring and consulting, finalists receive a few mentions in B2B Insider.

Happy, happy: It's the 25th anniversary for InterConnect Wiring, a 2015 Small Business of the Year recipient, founded by brother-sister act John Ashour and Clare McGarrey.

Kudos: Dave O'Lenick, super and Senior Sales Manager at the Sheraton Fort Worth Downtown Hotel, is the Hotel Motel Association of Tarrant County Full Service Sales Manager of the Year!

Goo-Google eyes: Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth is one of 125 Goodwill organizations to share in a $10-million grant from Google.org. The dollars fund digital training for one million people to develop more marketable skills.

Pharma & architecture? In addition to changing its name from Sterling Barnett Little to SBL Architecture, Jaime Pumphrey says the firm recently updated more than 40 pharmacies in multiple states to new pharmacy codes. Huh? Seems pharmacy design has been undergoing code changes, specifically when it comes to hazardous drugs. 

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MAPS ARE HERE & FREE! resources
This four-color street map covers Tarrant County and includes a special inset indicating the location of the DFW International Airport in proximity to Fort Worth and Dallas. Grab your FREE copy of the 2018 version here, or email us to order multiple copies.

Email Christine Gores or call 817-338-3332 for more information. See more of our publications in our online store.

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