Chamber Awards and Annual Meeting

The 24th Annual Pike County Chamber of Commerce Business   Meeting & Dinner was held Tuesday, March 22nd at Collver Family Winery in Barry. The meeting was attended by 145 Chamber members, city and village officials, county board representatives and friends.  

Networking and social time began at 6:00 p.m., with dinner and the program following at 6:30 p.m.  Catering was provided by Catering & More.

The program focused on building platforms for business here in Pike County.  Mr. Phil Conover, dean of career, technical and workforce education at John Wood Community College was the featured speaker.  Phil discussed retaining and attracting business in today’s economic climate.  Kaye Iftner, Executive Director of the Chamber presented highlights from 2010 and key initiatives planned for 2011. 

In other Chamber business, Robert Dieker of Barry was elected to the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.  The Board’s leadership team was announced.  David Fuhler, WBBA radio,   completed his 3 year term as president, and Kent Hawley of JWCC and current vice-president was named the new president.  Fuhler will remain on the Chamber Board.  Jill Watkins, Illini Hospital, was named vice president.

We wish to thank David for his years of service to the Chamber. We also thank him for being the emcee at our meeting every year, and providing the sound system.  He’s been great to work with.  With David staying on an already strong board, and new leadership, we’re positioned for good things in 2011.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Chamber’s annual Business of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, and its second annual Community Betterment Award.  The winners were selected from nominations made by chamber members and the community at large.

There were a number of nominations for each award. The Chamber utilized a PowerPoint presentation to recognize each nominee since each person, business or organization nominated was worthy in their own rights.  We wanted the audience to see that volunteerism and business is alive and well in Pike County.

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

There were two excellent nominees for Volunteer of the Year, according to Iftner.

Jim Blakemore and his wife Wanda, volunteers at Illini Community Hospital, were nominated for helping make Illini a great place to receive care.  They are active in Illini’s Cancer Care program. On Wednesdays when the patients come into see the oncologists, they take treats for the patient and always see that the nurses are taken care of too. Jim in particular brings magazines.  It’s not unusual for Jim to be at the hospital on other days to visit with patients and families.  Jim also takes pride in the hospital and has been known to work in the flower beds and around the grounds picking up cigarette butts to keep the hospital looking good.  Jim is a huge advocate for Illini and they are very proud to have him as one of their volunteers.

Ray Davenport has been a Boy Scout leader for nearly 32 years.  He has been a member of the Pittsfield Lions since 1970, and logged many hours operating Lions Club rides at local festivals and selling pork sandwiches.  He is a two time past president of the Lions, holding office in 2 different decades.  Ray has served on the Pittsfield Park Board, and was also chairman of it. Ray was an educator for over 30 years, and during that time coached many sports teams.  Ray served on the Pike County Board, and is currently chairman of the Board for the Griggsville Christian Church.  With these many years of volunteerism and focus on our youth, Ray is a real asset to Pike County.

Ray Davenport was selected as Volunteer of the Year. 

BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

There were five nominations for Business of the Year. Those 5 businesses were:

GFC
Illini Health Services LLC
In Motion
Liberty Village of Pittsfield
Pine Lakes

GFC, owned by Owen and Lisa Brown has been in business for 12 years.  GFC developed, engineered and sells the “Bale Bandit” hay accumulator.  The manufacturing of this machine was brought to Pike County in 2010 and created approximately 9 new jobs.  Visit balebandit.com to learn more.

Illini Health Services LLC was nominated for going over and above to make sure Pike County patients get the medicines, oxygen, services and information they need- often after hours or on weekends- and on I H S employees’ own time.  If they don’t have an answer, they will find it. If they don’t have a certain medicine, they will find it. Always! Always watching out for their customers, the team is an asset to our community.

In Motion, owned and operated by Jane Riley was nominated for advocating and working hard to help Pike County residents of all ages lead healthier lives.  Jane purchased and renovated a business location where one closed. She is enthusiastic and motivating and always keeps current with new programs and information.  The facility at 1135 W. Washington has user friendly hours and easy access.  Jane offers classes for rehab, sports enthusiasts and those who care about their appearance.

Liberty Village of Pittsfield has served Pike County for 20 years.  They provide quality care to the senior and disabled community.  Liberty Village also provides a variety of care options to the community- rehabilitative, hospice, respite, Alzheimers /dementia care, long term care and assisted living. They work closely with other healthcare provides to assure quality care.  Liberty Village employs over 100 people, making it one of the largest employers in the area.

Pine Lakes Resort has been a vital asset to Pike County for several years. Since being under the progressive management of Ted and Deb Festa, the last few years have seen significant improvements that have generated additional tourism for the county and increased leisure activities for residents and visitors alike. Ted and Deb are true entrepreneurs in that they left their jobs and family in another state to come to Pike County to operate a vacation resort.  They have added many new features such as lakefront and creek-side rustic camping which are enjoyed by vacationers and hunters alike.  Most recently, they have secured a Yogi Bear Jellystone Park franchise which will bring many more new features as well as many more tourists to our area- benefiting all of Pike County.

Pine Lakes Resort, soon to be called Yogi Bear Jellystone Park at Pine Lakes was named Business of the Year. 

Deb Festa’s mother passed away Friday morning, March 18th so Deb and Ted were unable to attend the Annual Meeting.  Accepting the award for them was Peggy Piper, a dear friend.  The Festas let the meeting participants know their grand re-opening as Yogi Bear Jellystone Park at Pine Lakes will be Memorial Day weekend. 

COMMUNITY BETTERMENT

The Chamber received two nominations for this award, which was first awarded in 2010:

Citizen Assistance for Purple Martins
Doug Whitlock

Citizen Assistance for Purple Martins was formed in April of 2010 by a group of citizens from the Griggsville area concerned about caring for the 40-foot purple martin tower and the purple martin houses that line Purple Martin Boulevard.  The group held their first work day in May and more than 30 people showed up to help.  A local company provided a bucket truck to assist with the cleaning of the tower.  The group now plans a 3-time overall clean-out (spring, summer and fall) as well as regular maintenance throughout the martin season.  Later last year, the group took on the additional responsibility of staffing the Nature Society Gift Shop in downtown Griggsville to continue to offer martin housing, accessories, wildlife prints and more.   Just recently, CAPM has secured “MartinFest 2011” the 14th annual purple martin festival which was previously held in Finger, Tennessee.  It will be June 17-19, 2011. The efforts of CAPM will help maintain Griggsville as “the Purple Martin Capital” and keep the martins coming back to our area.  The Gift Shop keeps a viable shopping stop for visitors and MartinFest will bring tourism dollars to our area. 

Doug Whitlock, a village trustee in Milton, was nominated for everything he does for the village and its residents.  Doug cooks pork chops at all Little League games in Milton.  They money raised from these pork chop sales goes to the ballpark for maintenance and playground equipment.  Doug also cooks pork chops and helps with movie night fundraisers to raise money for Christmas decorations. Money raised at these movie nights goes to purchase new Christmas decorations for the town.  Doug also blades snow, helps with repairs and takes on many other projects in the village. Because the village does not have a fulltime paid employee, Doug does whatever is needed, whenever it is needed.  Doug Whitlock makes Milton better for all of his hard work.     

Citizen Assistance for Purple Martins was awarded the Community Betterment recognition.

FICKLE GODDESS OF FORTUNE

In 2010 the Chamber introduced a traveling recognition when it discovered some interesting and humorous information in its history.  When the original articles of incorporation were filed, the organization’s purpose was listed as “to promote the general trade and commerce and perpetuate the visitation of the Fickle Goddess of Fortune to our area”  The Chamber presented the Fickle Goddess of Fortune in 2010 to J. Roberts Jewelers where she has proudly been on display this year’s meeting.  The goal of this is to recognize a business that we feel fortunate to have in our county- thus the Fickle Goddess of Fortune has smiled on us.

This year the Fickle Goddess of Fortune was presented to Brian Nation and Innoventor, Inc of Barry

 

Innoventor, Inc.® has developed and is manufacturing a unique and patented body weight support system (TheraStride™).  The TheraStride System assists individuals in the recovery of ambulation and overall health after Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and Spinal Cord Injury (SCI).  Innoventor, Inc. extended their facility base into Illinois by opening up a new manufacturing facility in Barry, IL to produce TheraStrides for the global healthcare market.  Innoventor employs a number of people in the Barry area, and plans further growth in the near future.