The purpose of the Lakewood Area Chamber of Commerce is to provide leadership for the promotion and advancement of economic growth and the quality of life for the Lakewood area. The Lakewood Area Chamber is comprised of businesses within the Lakewood School District to include Clarksville, Lake Odessa, Sunfield, Woodland and Freeport.
Upcoming Events
March Networking Events
Monday, March 5th is our 1st quarter After Hours Reception at Carbon Green BioEnergy, LLC. Tours of the plant will be available from 5:00-6:00pm. Afterwards they will share their "Fueling Freedom" video that is a documentary regarding fuel and ethanol. You can view a trailer for this informative video on their homepage www.cgbioenergy.com
Our Networking Breakfast will be held on Wednesday, March 7th at 8:00am in the Freight Station Museum on Emerson St in Lake Odessa. Our sponsor will be Walker Pharmacy. Everyone is welcome as this event is enriched by your business information. The purpose of the meeting is to encourage networking and allow each attendee to give a brief overview of their business in the form of a one minute commercial. From these 'mini commercials' we hope that those who attend can and will make referrals and promote our local businesses to friends, family and peers. | Visit us at the West-Michigan Women's Expo
The Chamber is teaming up with the Lake Odessa Downtown Development Authority(DDA) to promote Lake Odessa at the West Michigan Women's Expo. This event will be held at Devos Place in Grand Rapids from March 9-12. Times are 10 to 8 Friday and Saturday and 11 to 5 on Sunday.
This annual event attracts between 15,000 and 18,000 attendees each year. This is an excellent opportunity to promote our beautiful town and businesses to women who have never had the opportunity to visit us. Stop by our booth and see how we will be promoting Lake Odessa as Your "day-cation destination." Enjoy shopping, antiquing, water sports and family fun! We have some exciting plans and you might even win a prize. |
Annual Meeting & Awards Reception
On January 30th, the Chamber held our Annual Meeting and Awards Reception at Centennial Acres Golf and Banquet Center. Members and guests enjoyed a relaxed setting with a desert buffet prior to the meeting. We would like to congratulate all award nominees as well as this year’s award recipients.
President's Award to an Outstanding Citizen: Janet Thomas
Community Service Award: Sheila Veitch
nominees: Sunny Crest Youth Ranch, Kiwanias Club, Lakewood Area Lions Club and Pearl Goodemoot
Community Leadership Award: Carbon Green BioEnergy LLC
nominees: Elisa Jackson of So Simply, Karen Banks of the Village of Lake Odessa and Kirk Forman of the Village of Woodland
Entrepreneur of the Year: Kendall Wilcox with APEC
nominees: Bill Rogers with the Garden View Guest House and Chad Hickey with Viking Chiropractic
President's Award to an Outstanding Citizen: Janet Thomas
Community Service Award: Sheila Veitch
nominees: Sunny Crest Youth Ranch, Kiwanias Club, Lakewood Area Lions Club and Pearl Goodemoot
Community Leadership Award: Carbon Green BioEnergy LLC
nominees: Elisa Jackson of So Simply, Karen Banks of the Village of Lake Odessa and Kirk Forman of the Village of Woodland
Entrepreneur of the Year: Kendall Wilcox with APEC
nominees: Bill Rogers with the Garden View Guest House and Chad Hickey with Viking Chiropractic
Customer Service Award: Mandy Nurenberg of So Simply
nominees: Lana Tuitman of Endless Expressions, Eileen Heether (Teeny) of the Lake Odessa Post Office, Deb Ransom of Speedway and Robert Johnson of MIDMI.NET Technology Solutions
Construction Refurbishment Award: Bill Rogers with the Garden View Guest House
nominees: John Nagel with Centennial Acres Golf and Banquet Center, Chad Hickey with Viking Chiropractic, Alice Wright with 4th Avenue Antiques, Oddities and Curiosities, Steve Swartz with Haven of Hope Ministries and Nickki Hedger with Terry's Woodbury Cafe
The following Board Members were sworn into office:
President - Edith Farrell Vice President - Troy Peper Director - Denise Parks
Secretary - Dacia Chesebro Treasurer - Maggie Benham Director - Shawn Durkee
Director - Abby Mattice Director - Michael Hiltunen Director - Keather Winslow
nominees: Lana Tuitman of Endless Expressions, Eileen Heether (Teeny) of the Lake Odessa Post Office, Deb Ransom of Speedway and Robert Johnson of MIDMI.NET Technology Solutions
Construction Refurbishment Award: Bill Rogers with the Garden View Guest House
nominees: John Nagel with Centennial Acres Golf and Banquet Center, Chad Hickey with Viking Chiropractic, Alice Wright with 4th Avenue Antiques, Oddities and Curiosities, Steve Swartz with Haven of Hope Ministries and Nickki Hedger with Terry's Woodbury Cafe
The following Board Members were sworn into office:
President - Edith Farrell Vice President - Troy Peper Director - Denise Parks
Secretary - Dacia Chesebro Treasurer - Maggie Benham Director - Shawn Durkee
Director - Abby Mattice Director - Michael Hiltunen Director - Keather Winslow
Featured Member of the Month
Beginning Roots Child Development Center
Beginning Roots Child Development Center offers a loving staff that meets ongoing state educational standards and are trained in first-aid/CPR. Children are served highly nutritional meals and snacks following state guide lines. Beginning Roots offers parents of children 0-12 years of age the opportunity to use their services Monday thru Friday 6am to 6pm Younger Children learn letters and sounds thru Zoo Phonics and lots of great books. They are exposed to hands on math activities with the Math Their Way program. Children explore science/social studies themed activities and learn the importance of friendship. Creativity is encouraged through dramatic play, arts, poetry, and music. Older children work on building friendships, reading, math, red words, learn proper nutritional habits and life-time sports activities, and enjoy science and social studies themed units as well. They participate in the Local Library program, learn service Character education, explore and learn through mini walking field trips, take several visits to Swiftys and the local bowling alley! For more information or if you would like to stop in for a visit, please call Miya Graham at 1-616-374-7030! President's CornerHello everyone,
For those of you who attended our Annual Meeting and Awards Reception, I hope you enjoyed the evening. I would like to personally thank Marnie for all of the time she put into making the event a success! Also, thanks to John Nagel and his staff at Centennial Acres for providing the excellent service and dessert buffet for the evening. As you see our nominees and award winners around town, be sure and congratulate them! As I mentioned at our annual meeting, one of my goals for the Chamber this year is to improve our visibility. A new event we are trying this year is to partner with the DDA to have a booth at the Women’s Expo at Devos Place. We are joining three businesses from Lake Odessa who will also have booths at the event. Our goal is to highlight the features that make our town great and entice families to visit our town as a day trip. If you attend the Women’s Expo, be sure to stop by and visit us. Also if your business has promotional materials you would like us to make available, let me know at efarrell@ubmich.com. Thank you, Edith Farrell President of the Lakewood Area Chamber of Commerce | Lakewood Bucks
The Lakewood Bucks program is designed to keep our dollars in our community thus strengthening our local businesses and economy. Lakewood Bucks can be purchased in increments of $5 and $20 and can be spent just like cash at any of our member businesses. For a complete list of participating businesses just click on the attachment below. For more information or to purchase Lakewood Bucks, contact Marnie at 616-374-0766 or director@lakewoodareacoc.org
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