Secretary of Agriculture to Speak in County

Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Redding will speak at a luncheon hosted by the Huntingdon County Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, April 10 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center. The meal will be prepared by students with products produced in Pennsylvania.

Secretary Redding will discuss the impact agricultural has on our economy, how Pennsylvania is dealing with depressed milk prices, and how the department is working to sustain the future of agriculture. Reservations are required by April 2. The printed invitation contains additional details and is in the event section of this newsletter.

A special thanks to Price Motor Sales; Nationwide Insurance, Pam Stern and Associates; CBT Bank, and Valley Rural Electric Cooperative for sponsoring this event.

Leadership Huntingdon County Morning Class

Leadership Huntingdon County is recruiting now for the Class of 2020 and we've made a big change for this class! The program will be during the day at the Huntingdon County Career & Technology Center.

Leadership Huntingdon County includes a variety of educational approaches such as lecture, discussion, case studies, skill building, hands-on experience, team work, site visits, fact finding, and problem solving for issues facing our community.

We kick-off every class with a reception in August and end the program with a Graduation. There are two field trips for the program and a retreat. There are nine monthly morning sessions. Sessions topics include:

Our mission is to encourage citizens to become engaged community members by incorporating prior experience and developing knowledge to make a positive impact on Huntingdon County.

If you're interested in participating or if you'd like more information, please contact MacKenzie at [email protected]

Event Re-Cap

On Wednesday, March 20 we hosted a Dale Carnegie Generational Gap Seminar where attendees learned how to effectively communicate between generations.

Employee Stock Ownership Plan

What if...

Tax free companies, millionaire grocery clerks, real retirement savings. Crazy? No...it’s called an ESOP.

What if you could sell a percentage of your company to your employees for full fair market value and enjoy the fruits of your hard work now?

What if the employees paid nothing for their shares, but now had real retirement funds?

And what if your company became more productive and was exempt from federal and state tax on profits?

This is all possible through an ESOP, an “Employee Stock Ownership Plan.” In 1974, the federal government created a program that allows owners of businesses to sell some or all of their company to their employees.

The employees pay nothing. Rather, the business takes on a note (a "mortgage") that gets paid back over three to five years.

The owner gets paid full fair market value, and now the employees have a real stake in the company and real retirement savings. Not surprisingly, employee owned companies are much more productive than non-employee owned companies and turnover rates decrease dramatically.

And here's the best part...An ESOP company’s profits are tax free – forever. The tax savings pays off the mortgage! And very few people know about this.

Pennsylvania has about 300 ESOPs including Sheetz, Dansko Shoes, and Your Building Centers, in nearby Altoona. Read what their CEOs have to say here.

At age 19 Cathy Burch took a job at WinCo, a supermarket chain and ESOP company. She worked in various roles - cashier, shelf stocker, inventory orderer, and by the time she was 42 she was a millionaire. And at WinCo, her story is not unique. Read more about the millionaire grocery clerks here.

To learn more, reach out to Rosalie Evans

( [email protected]  ) at the nonprofit Pennsylvania Center for Employee Ownership, and visit us at ownershippennsylvania.org.

Isett Heritage Museum Open House

The museum is hosting an open house on April 6, 2019 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. During the event, they will have a Ukrainian Pysanky egg demonstration at 2:00 p.m. There is no cost to attend.

Looking to start an endowment or to support community efforts? Click the logo above to learn more about the Huntingdon County Foundation.