It is the second month of the new year, three weeks in and we just celebrated the most loved day … Valentine’s Day! Mother Earth is feeling the love today and gave us a bright, warm sunny day to bask in! I hope you have taken the time to take a breath outside and give yourself some love. I took a walk outside today and took the opportunity to think about what has transpired in the past three weeks since we last spoke. It has been a fast and evolving month full of meetings that conjured up so many thoughts for me about so many things.
These meetings were thought provoking, inspiring and educational. As I sit here and write to you, I wish I had all the words ready to be able to get all my thoughts out. One thing I have learned throughout the years spent in meetings is to hold a meeting with yourself. There is so much to digest and if you don’t take the time for yourself to go through those thoughts, then was it worth your time? So below are my notes from the meeting I had with myself.
The commonality in all the meetings these past few weeks has been community: their needs, wants, aspirations and troubles. What can we do or what can I do? That is a hard question and can be so overwhelming because the answer is neither simple nor easy. What I do hear though, is that we, collectively and individually, want to help. We want to make a difference and we can!
At the Chamber we say we are the Voice of our Community but realize that we do not have a voice if it were not for your membership and support. We are a small town but so very large and we cannot do it alone. Becoming part of the Chamber gives you a community of support and a larger voice that can be heard.
In these meetings, whatever the topic, it leads back to one of the largest challenges: communication or lack of… how do I know, how do we find out, where do I go? If we build the Chamber to the best of its capacity (and we have plenty!) then the communication barrier is not as massive, and the communication lines become stronger. The more of us that come together on this platform, the stronger and larger we become and then we would not feel so disconnected.
We want to be the network that brings this community together to meet the needs, the wants, the dreams and solve some, if not all, of the troubles that we have. Does that seem dreamy and unrealistic? To some extent yes, but how can we not try? Look how much we have done to improve our town in the past few years …. think of even more things we could accomplish!
With more representation we become a stronger voice and really live the statement “Voice of Our Community.” I am asking you: the citizens of our town and the business owners in our community, to come join us at one of our Chamber events and bring a friend or two. Let us do this together!
Susan Gomez
Chamber of Commerce Director