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Chambers Working Together

Pipestone Flyer

Some of the newest member, business owners, along with Chamber President Ashley Robbins, right.

 

 

Friday May 4, 2012 saw a historic moment happen for the Leduc Chamber of Commerce. In the opening comments of the luncheon that took place at the Executive Royal Inn, Chamber Executive Stefanie Schulz quoted Henry Ford by saying "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." This prefaced the signing of an agreement between the Leduc Chamber, Thorsby and Devon Chambers and the Beaumont Business Association. This letter of accord will initiate the sharing of ideas and initiatives between the four groups as well as offering benefits and increased value for businesses between each group's member base.

When the signing was complete, Stefanie stepped back up to the podium for a moment to welcome twelve different Chamber members onto the stage by stating; "We are in business for business!" Then each of the twelve members came onstage one at a time, and beginning with the phrase "Did you know....", continued on to give bursts of information about the benefits of being a member of the Chamber of Commerce. Benefits such as reduced insurance rates, member to member discounts and help organizing Grand Openings, to name just a few. After eleven such statements, the final member approached the microphone and got a laugh from the crowd by joking, "Did you know.....that I was going to begin by saying, 'Did you know'?"

After the statements were completed, Chamber President Ashley Robinson welcomed fifteen new members into the Chamber family for the month of April. Then Stefanie had the pleasure of announcing the guest speaker for the luncheon, who was Edmonton Eskimo's Head Coach, Kavis Reed.

Kavis came to the podium joking that he should petition his wife to move to Leduc since he has been here so often this year. The crowd completely agreed with a rousing round of applause. He laughingly continued on to say that he just needed to check into land taxes in Leduc and if the LRT could be expanded so he could get to work quickly. 

With the draft taking place that day, Kavis knew the crowd would have a lot of questions as to who the new quarterback was going to be, so he headed off those inquiries and guesses by saying with a smile, "When you guys figure that out, please let me know!" 

He kept his presentation fairly short but he did state that, "In football, just like in business, you never make a move for a fast answer because it is then a reactive answer and that is never a good plan. You always make moves looking two years ahead and planning for success, be it upcoming or continued."

Kavis's speech was very well accepted by all the business people at the luncheon but once it had ended everyone's attention was quickly sidetracked by the drawing of the 50/50 tickets. As per the initiative of the Leduc Chamber to give proceeds from the luncheon to a local charity, this month they had decided to donate the Chamber's half of the 50/50 money to the Aspholm family of Leduc who have two seriously ill children that require expensive treatments. A truly uplifting moment at the end of the luncheon that really shows the heart and soul of the people in Leduc, happened when the winner of the 50/50 draw was announced. Gert Reynar, Director of the Leduc Food Bank, won the draw and promptly announced that she was donating the winnings to the Aspholm family as well. So, with a final well deserved round of applause, the May Chamber of Commerce Luncheon came to a heartwarming close.

The next Lucheon takes place on June 8th at the Red Tail Landing Golf Club and Travel Alberta will be doing a presentation titled "What's Going On In Your Back Yard?" As always, more information can be had, and luncheon tickets can be reserved, by calling the Leduc Chamber of Commerce at 780-986-5454.