Good Evening and Happy Sunday Fellow Rotarians! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful fall weekend! I drove out to Vermont to bring my German Shepherd to her Sheep Herding lesson today and let me tell you, the leaves are absolutely stunning! We have to be at peak or very close to it. Any fellow leaf peepers out there, take a ride out to Rutland, you will not be disappointed!
Now, for anyone who missed this week's Zoom call, we had the pleasure of hearing from Michael Bittell, CEO of The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce!
The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce has been advocating for local businesses since 1914. The ARCC is a 501c6 not-for-profit corporation, governed by a group of volunteer Board of Directors, and does not receive any funding from local, county, or state governments. It is a 100% membership funded organization representing over 23,000 people mostly residing in New York State's Washington, Warren, Essex, and Northern Saratoga Counties.
Mr. Bittell spoke about the hardships that COVID-19 has brought on the community's businesses and what The Chamber is doing to help local and regional businesses during these times of perilous uncertainty. They have written letters, kept all of their members and followers updated on reopening information, and guided businesses through the newer, stricter rules that will allow them to reopen as the state continues to slowly make progress towards a "new normal".
The Chamber's mission is to support local and regional businesses to grow, succeed, and thrive. Thinking about how The Novel Coronavirus has rocked our economy and community while turning everything upside down has brought me to the stunning realization that The Chamber must have had to rethink their entire strategy literally overnight in order to continue to serve their community in the way that they have been in the past. I can think of no better person than Mr. Bittell to be leading The ARCC during such an unprecedented event. He is calm, poised, and ready to take on anything that is thrown his way, including a global pandemic!
Now I ask you all, how can we help the businesses in our community? Maybe we could make sure to shop at the more local or regional stores and chains instead of the larger retailers (i.e. Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, or *my weakness* Hobby Lobby). We could opt to buy our coffee from Spektor or SPoT instead of Starbucks. Maybe make sure that when you go out to eat you are supporting local restaurants instead of chains like Texas Roadhouse or Olive Garden. A few of my personal favorites are Mikado, Farmacy, and Raul's (Radici is on my list, I had a hard time getting a reservation there so I am assuming it is all everyone has hyped it up to be!). All in all, what I am saying is, this pandemic is like nothing we have ever seen before, and our neighbors, as well as their livelihoods, are in jeopardy. Let me know what you think! What are you doing to help your neighbors during these unprecedented times?
At the top of your spinoff (just like last week), you will see a box saying "Click this....". I have included a link to the recording of the Zoom meeting so that if you missed it, you can still catch up on The ARCC and the incredible work they do to keep our community running smoothly! You will have to enter a passcode when you click on the link, I have provided it above on the link so that it is easy to see and write down.
Thanks for reading, and I can't wait to see everyone on the Zoom call this Thursday!
.png)
