La Porte Chamber Ends First Quarter on a Strong Note for New Members and Events

la-porte-chamer-logo-newThe Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce has ended its first quarter of the year on a high note for its events and number of new members.

Throughout the 1st quarter of 2017, 26 new members have joined the Chamber. New members in the month of March included: La Porte County Historical Society, RQAW Corporation, Fox Village LLC, Thermo-Cycler Industries, Inc., Irvine Holdings LLC, Dunkin’ Donuts, Worthy Recovery Inc., Thirty-One Gifts- Julie Wadle, JSH Marketing, Abacus Home Inspection, and Judee’s Boutique. We thank these members for joining and also extend a thanks to those that have renewed!

The La Porte Chamber held several events throughout the month of March. On March 3, the Chamber hosted its Annual Meeting, sponsored by the La Porte County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Our organization was proud to give Scott Siefker of Showmen Supplies the Clem T. Otolski Business Person of the Year Award. This event saw some of its highest attendance in recent memory with over 130 attendees. Craig Dwight of Horizon Bank provided the speech at this event and spoke on various issues affecting the business community in La Porte County. The Chamber continued the month with Statewide Chamber Day at the Statehouse where Chamber staff and members were invited to meet with local state elected officials in Indianapolis. On March 16, the Chamber hosted a seminar luncheon with R Squared Strategies, LLC that was sponsored by Briar Leaf Golf Club. This event marked the start of the Chamber’s luncheons to have an educational basis for our members. Later on in the month, the Chamber teamed up with the Westville and Michigan City Chambers to host a Third House Session in which our members had the opportunity to meet with the local state elected officials directly at the La Porte County Public Library. The Chamber also hosted its first ever Chamber Coffee Talk in March, which will provide members of the Chamber and interested potential new members the opportunity to have a regular networking event on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. The first ever event was held at Mama T’s Diner and had approximately 25 attendees. On March 24, the Chamber hosted the State of the City, and heard an update about the city from Mayor Blair Milo. 1st Source Bank sponsored this event, and Matt Vessely provided a brief address to the crowd. This event also saw some of its highest attendance ever with over 150 attendees. The Chamber closed out the quarter with a ribbon cutting at the new facility for Miller’s Health & Rehab on March 29.

The Chamber has been actively visiting businesses to see where needs and opportunities lie. The team has made over sixty visits in March and is continuing to develop new ways to engage and promote our members and area businesses through social media and more networking and informational events.

The Governmental Affairs Committee met in March and heard updates from Representative Jim Pressel about road funding and other issues while Mayor Blair Milo provided information on the South Shore Double Track project, sidewalks, and other topics. The Education Committee also continued to meet in March and members heard about various local education initiatives and projects from United Way of La Porte County, Purdue University Northwest, Junior Achievement, the La Porte Civic Auditorium, La Porte Community Schools, and others. All Chamber members are invited to become members of our committees which helps to provide more connections and information about our local area to their respective businesses.

The Chamber is proud to play an active role in the development of La Porte and our area businesses, and we invite you to come join us! For more information about the Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce, call 219.362.3178, email info@lpchamber.com, or visit www.lpchamber.com.