December 2019 Windsor Chamber Newsletter

President's Column December 2019

We are quickly coming to the end of 2019, are you excited about transitioning to a new year? This year has included exciting things like floods, fires and evacuations (but no locusts) and many people are just looking for this year to end. The Chamber attended the EDB's Fall Economic Forecast with Dr. Chris Thornberg last month and Dr. Thornberg assured us the financial indicators still reflect a healthy economy for Sonoma County in 2020.

The Chamber worked alongside with PG&E, the Town of Windsor and other organizations to help Windsor businesses prepare for the outages – and it turned out that the work that went into PSPS preparedness helped minimize losses for many of our members during the evacuation. We will be offering another class on disaster preparedness in January.

After the fire, the Chamber sponsored the Kincade Fire - Recovery Legal Support Workshop with Jack Weaver of Welty, Weaver & Currie and William Heddon, a Public Insurance Adjuster and attorney. Here’s the link to the video recording for those who missed it: https://www.townofwindsor.com/CivicMedia?VID=10. Along those same lines, the Small Business Administration opened a disaster assistance center over on Skylane Blvd., and we were just notified that the assistance center will close on Thursday, December 5th, 5pm. There is more information below for those who may need it.

We had Deputy Chief Matt Gustafson and Battalion Chief Cyndi Foreman from Sonoma County Fire District as speakers at our November Chamber luncheon. Their accounts made it clear that we truly dodged a bullet with the Kincade Fire. The debt we owe first responders is beyond measure. The Chamber is collecting donations in the office and at community events to buy gift certificates for massages for first responders. The Chamber has also been selling #WindsorStrong postcards, and part of the proceeds will go to first responders.

Christmas is nearly upon us. Please consider the economic impact of your holiday shopping by keeping it local. And if you can help us get the word out - WINDSOR IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS! Many businesses were deeply affected by the fires/evacuation. Don't forget, the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Grove is opening this week. If you’d like your business to be included on the Chamber’s Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, please email Justin Wilcock at justin@sonomacorr.com. We would like to have as many member ornaments on the tree as possible. Please provide him with an ornament or two to put on the tree. We have donation barrels for Toys/food donations from Kiwanis and Toys for Tots. Last year we filled several barrels.

December Events:
*December 3rd, Ribbon Cutting Wells Fargo Bank 8 am. Mayor Dominic Foppoli will do the ribbon cutting.
*December 17th Chamber luncheon 11:30-1. The topic is SMART with Matt Stevens and Vice Mayor Deb Fudge are the guest speakers.
*December 17th Ribbon cutting for El Gallo Negro with Mayor Dominic Foppoli officiating at a combined mixer with the Hispanic Chamber and Mark West Chamber at El Gallo Negro 5-7pm. In attendance: Ms. Latina Wine Country: Lidayni Perez, and Her Princess: Sophia Carolina.

The chamber is continuing work on the overhaul of our new website. It is beautiful and we are looking forward to launching the site in January. One of the features of the new website (beside easy navigation) is a member portal. This will allow each of you to have access to your portal where you will keep your member information current and can create special offers for your customers.

Before we close this year out, I wanted to give you a heads up about some of the ways we look to add value to your Chamber membership. The Chamber represents your marketing interests at a bi-weekly economic development meeting with the Town of Windsor, and the Chamber runs a weekly “Explore Windsor” ad in the Sunday Press Democrat. We also build strong relationships with the Town, the County of Sonoma and organizations like the Sonoma County Economic Development Board and the Small Business Development Center. Please let me know of any ideas, requests or concerns that I might bring forward on behalf of your business. I just found out that I was selected as the Certified Tourism Ambassador of the Year by Sonoma County Tourism!

#WindsorTogether, #WindsorStrong
and
#WindsorIsOpenForBusines

Lorene