Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce remains strong and active

Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce remains strong and active [Charlotte Sun Column 3-30-20]

 

By TERI ASHLEY

 

Many people who know me will confirm that I don’t get “writer’s block.” Ever. I once told someone - and not very humbly I might add - that I could write about any topic given to me, including a knat.

Well, I just misspelled gnat incorrectly with a “k” … so here we are.

What does one write about at this time that doesn’t sound patronizing or know-it-ally? Is there any real information out there that hasn’t been regurgitated ad nauseam? Is regurgitated ad nauseam redundant? Aggghhhh!

 

Open for business, kinda  

Both offices of the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce will remain staffed unless a directive is issued for businesses to close and we are confined to our homes. Notice that I didn’t us the word “unessential” pertaining to businesses. We all know what’s meant by the term “unessential businesses,” but each and every business is essential to someone.

Anyway, our offices are open with staff rotating one at a time from home. This is to maintain as much semblance of order to our operations as possible while we support our almost 1,000 business members and the entire Charlotte County community. Public access to both buildings was stopped last week, and we are all set-up and prepared to work fulltime from home.

Allow me a moment to brag about the staff of your Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce. There are a total of four of us to operate our two locations. And just as my three associates were almost finished breaking in the newbie of 13 weeks (moi), all holy-heck broke loose. With the flip of an internal switch, Ruth, Janet and Mike witnessed my transformation from a normal operational pace to warp-speed on autopilot.

“Call the members, start lists, offer a free membership category, host a blood drive, call the members, create new files, get your laptops ready, review the new operation plan, keep working but lock the doors, pack supplies for home, call the members, update the lists, review the budget, prepare the mailings …and call the members.”

Thanks, team.

 

Keep yourselves informed

We continue to keep our members and other businesses updated, but without as much redundancy and clutter as possible. We are here to help direct everyone to the correct resources for navigating their options. Please make sure your business is on our email list to receive the regular updates of important information. This is not a continuous bombardment of emails, but strategically planned communication to provide business information and resources. Information is also kept updated on the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce website and Facebook page.

 

Daily email ***UPDATE***

Speaking of our email list, the daily update is still be sent. We’ve added a “contents” list at the top to assist with your scrolling. We also added a “Daily Relief” at the very bottom to help keep everyone grounded, if even just for a second.

The most utilized component of this email is the updated list of restaurants and retail businesses still providing services, and at what limited capacity. This information has been shared far and wide, and is kept updated on our Facebook page as well.

Make sure your business is receiving these updates!

   

Back to the gnat

   Instead of all the other stuff going on, I really WOULD much rather be writing about a gnat.

 

 

Teri Ashley is the executive director of the Charlotte County Chamber of Commerce, now in its 95^th year, with offices in both Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. She can be reached at 941-639-2222 or at tashley@charlottecountychamber.org.