THREE OAKS — The Harbor Country Chamber of Commerce made it official on Thursday, Nov. 7 — it’s new home is a spacious, log-cabin style building located at the corner of Three Oaks and Warren Woods roads.
A well-attended open house complete with speeches, a ribbon-cutting and an abundance of tasty treats introduced those in attendance to the 500-member organization’s 2,340-square foot Office and Business Resource Center at 15311 Three Oaks Road, which includes a large meeting/class room, a spacious main area complete with a kitchen, and offices where chamber officials and members can meet privately.
“We’re excited for you to see our new facility and become familiar with the services we offer here,” Chamber Executive Director Viki Gudas.
“This is in many ways a new beginning,” she later noted.
Gudas said the Chamber had been operating out of the new office for about a month prior to the open house, and its advantages were already apparent.
“We have space to meet with our members and have private consultations. Before we couldn’t do that,” she said.
Gudas also cited the versatility that having more room offers in terms of providing training sessions and meetings.
“Our members feel very comfortable here, that’s another good thing,” she added.
Rich Kochanny, chairman of the Chamber’s Building Committee, said the idea for establishing a larger office was hatched during a 2009 strategic planning session.
“We wanted to know how we could best serve our members … We had a whole list of things we wanted to accomplish, but one thing that became clear was we really needed a space in order to execute all these great ideas that we had,” he said. “It’s taken a long time to get to this point — the seed started in 2009 and here we are in 2013, we finally got the space.”
Kochanny said the Chamber was helped by “a lot of good partners along the way” including many volunteers, the Pokagon Fund “for believing in us,” a “great Building Commitee” that included Rick Scanlan, David Aaker, Chuck Garasic, Becky Gloe, and his wife, Eileen Kochanny, not an official member of the committee, but heavily involved in the process nonetheless.
“There were a lot of decisions to make and a lot of volunteerism, a lot of hard work went into it. We’re really pleased with the results,” Kochanny continued. “I want to thank all of our contractor partners who helped us out. Bill McCollum Architects helped us with our designs and putting the ideas on paper. Thomas Gloe Builders, Burkett Heating and Air Conditioning, Stevensville Electric, Jason Gloe Building, Kevin Von Ehr Plumbing, Groundworkes did our landscaping for us, Lakeshore Recycling and Disposal helped us out with our demolition, and the folks over at Big C Lumber and Sawyer Hardware were both great partners.”
Later mentioned was Conway and Company for painting major portions of the office.
Kochanny said the Chamber Office staff, Gudas, Kim Pruitt and Robin Quackenbush, worked together with the Building Committee and helped make the move go smoothly.
He noted that the office already has hosted several well-received classes including QuickBooks, a session on business plans and Google Plus Business Pages.
“This is really just the beginning. We have a lot of economic development initiatives, we have a lot of different ideas, programs, spaces here now and we are ready to start executing,” he said.
Chamber Board President Chuck Garasic said Kochannys showed a great deal of perseverance and dedication to the Chamber Office project.
Garasic also gave credit to Nadra Kissman and her family for being instrumental in establishing the Harbor Country Chamber of Commerce in the 1980s and providing the New Buffalo Railroad Museum as the Chamber’s home for a number of years.
“There would be no Chamber without the Kissman family, so we really want to thank them,” he said.
Garasic said the late Larry Bubb also helped promote and create the Harbor Country area in the 1980s, as did Ron and Trish Miller, who owned the Miller’s Country House restaurant.
“We are here because of what has transpired in the past and we have to thank all those people whether they’re still round or not,” he concluded.
One of the services offered at the new Office and Business Resource Center was explained during the open house by Margaret Adams, program manager for the Women’s Business Center at Cornerstone Alliance.
Adams said the center will have a presence at the new Harbor Country office, providing one-on-one counseling, business development classes and “anything that pertains to opening a business or expanding.”
These services also include training and assistance in finance management, marketing, procurement, QuickBooks, certification institutes, netwowrking, the Internet and home-based businesses as well as access to SBA programs and services including microloans.
Adams later stressed that despite its name, the Women’s Business Center at Cornerstone Alliance offers its services aimed at starting, growing or expanding businesses in Berrien, Cass and Van Buren counties to both men and women.
For more, go to cornerstonewbc.com or call the Harbor Country Chamber Office at (269) 469-5409.
Adams also introduced Gregory Vaughn, executive director of Cornerstone Alliance, Regina Ciaravino, Cornerstone membership director, Kim Richardson, chairperson of the WBC Advisory Council, and Advisory Council members Judith Burnison and Brian McMahon.
Plaques in honor of the effort to establish the new facility that will hang in the Chamber office were presented to the Kochannys and to Pokagon Fund Executive Director Mary Dunbar (Garasic noted that the Fund provided a total of $229,000 in grant money to the Chamber for the office project).
“It has been truly an honor to be a partner of something so substantial that is going to affect so many people in Harbor Country,” Dunbar said. “Whether it was strategic planning, whether it was the build-out, where it was branding, we want to support economic development in this area, and what better way to do it than to support the Chamber. We really look forward to seeing the outcome of all of these new, innovative programs that you’re going to implement. I think that supporting existing businesses by providing training is going to be hugely beneficial. Encouraging new businesses to come to town will help to create expansion and new job growth for the area, which of course ultimately supports everybody in this area.”
Adam Mensinger, district representative for State Sen. John Proos, and Clay R. McCausland, district director for Congressman Fred Upton, presented a framed legislative tribute signed by Proos, Upton, State Rep. Dave Pagel and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, celebrating the ribbon-cutting and grand opening of the Harbor Country Chamber of Commerce Office and Business Resource Center.
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