I have to tell you, it has been great to see the warm weather finally join us and feel that April sun on my face – AND I have gotten my two shots!! I am hopeful the many of you have received your shots as well and the rest are not far behind. There is indeed that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
March proved to be another busy month of activity. We are all a bit happier with the increase in activity and seeing more members join and support the Chamber and our endeavors.
As I have stated many times in this newsletter, the monthly Breakfast Club networking is one of my favorite Chamber networking events. This month just reinforces those feelings. A special thank you to the 20 + members who joined us once again for some terrific virtual networking.
For those of you who missed it, we had a very enjoyable and entertaining pre St. Patrick’s Day “Zoom” networking event on March 16th. Another special “thank you” is in order. Our friends at Harrington’s, Lisa and Dan welcomed us virtually into their establishment and hit us with some interesting facts and history. Also a thanks to Carly for challenging everyone with an unusual zoom scavenger hunt!
We also participated in two very well attended and informative virtual Multi-Chamber sessions with our other local Chambers of Commerce. The first took place on Thursday, March 11th. This was a session titled “You Can Get There From Here – Starting an E-Commerce Site”. The second event was on Thursday March 25th which was a combination of an informative talk on how you could “Master Your Elevator Pitch” as well as a round table type of networking. If you missed these two events, you missed some great ideas and networking opportunities. Be sure to catch the next sessions as they come along. You won’t be disappointed!
Additionally, we have via our relationship with our partners at SCORE, provided in the month of March alone access to no less than 10 varied and informative educational seminars. Again, I would encourage you all to keep your eyes open and take a peek at these e-mail announcements as they come out because these free sessions could be of great help to many.
The next Multi Chamber educational seminar is a “Women in Business” with the presenter Professor Gene Miller set for 9:00 am on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Professor Miller is a Lecturer and Director for Social Responsible Leadership at Brandeis University and International Business School. Her topic is “Using Your Super Power for Social Good”. This should be an excellent seminar so please take note and mark your calendar.
Also of great importance to many are the changes to the Town By-Laws that were voted upon and approved at the last fall’s Wakefield Town meeting. These changes are intended to reduce the environmental impact of the use of foam polystyrene (Styrofoam) and plastics here in the town of Wakefield. These changes will go into effect on June 30, 2021.
The Chamber in cooperation with Town officials will be providing insightful information to all in the very near future. So please on the lookout for this important notice.
While we know that the constant stream of information regarding COVID and the SBA programs regarding PPP and EIDL can be overwhelming, the need for that information is real and as the Chamber, we will continue provide that to you as best we can.
As conditions continue to improve we are looking forward to the opportunity to return to our more traditional Chamber activities. In-person meetings are the back bone of Chamber activities and we all recognize the value that networking. So lets keep our collective fingers crossed, get vaccinated and pray for the best.
Hope to see many of you again soon,
John
