Everybody Wins!

These are exciting times for our community.

The biggest news is the LCS contract has finally become reality for Marinette Marine, a Fincantieri company, and Lockheed Martin. This could mean as many as 1000 jobs at the shipyard, many of which will be new jobs.

The second piece of good news is the proposal for Anna's Vineyard on Green Island, a stunning vision of resort, recreation and vineyard that may result in 250 construction jobs across 25 trades and once operational, approximately 150 jobs for business operators, vendors, resort employees, vineyard workers and service personnel.

Don't forget the new research facility at Tyco and the new Walmart Supercentre. Other projects are likely to occur over the next year or so.

It's all a very heady prospect. The only thing I can compare it to is the lumber boom that crested in the 1880s when the railroad came to town, brining with it many families seeking a better life.

It's not pushing the envelope to imagine unprecented prosperity for our community. With that will come some challenges, too, but our organizations and municipalities are equal to the task.

What can you do to help enhnace economic vitality? The answere is simple: Shop local. Support local businesses.

When you buy from a locally-owned business, $68 of every $100 you spend stays here. And when you shop at a chain store or franchise, more than $40 stays here.

That's not true when you drive somewhere else to shop.

We're not suggesting you forgo shopping trips to Green Bay or Escanaba. Those cities are part of our region. Who doesn't appreciate a road trip, especially on the first nice Saturday of February? What we are suggesting is that you shop locally first.

By shopping locally, you help create a market for more goods and services. And you support business owners who support our community and its organizations. You support your friends and neighbors. And you help create a sense of community in our lovely little area.

Resolve to shop locally in 2011 and beyond. When you do, everybody wins!

A Christmas Gift to Our Community

It's official now. The U.S. Navy will build 10 littoral combat ships at Marinette Marine in partnership with Lockheed Martin.

It's been a long time coming. Officials from Lockheed Martin and Marinette Marine met with the chamber's board of directors in August 2009. At that time, everyone believed a decision in the then-winner-take-all contract could come as early as July of August 2010.

But these matters rarely happen without setbacks and obstacles and the contract was no exception. The purchase proposal changed to a split between our local shipyard and one in Mobile, Ala., with 10 ships built at each yard. And now it's reality: Good news indeed after a protracted recession that economists insist ended in June 2009.

The contract will create jobs at Marinette Marine and allow company officials to bring laid off workers back to the job. Some of this will happen in early 2011, the rest will occur over a period of years. In addition to new jobs at the shipyard, it is expected that 4,000 to 5,000 jobs will be created in supporting industries across Northeast Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.

This is reason to rejoice during this season of good cheer and gratitude. Our community - like the rest of the country - has experienced unemployment. At one point, the percentage was high: Between 13 and 14 percent on both sides of the river.

In the fall of 2009, the chamber pulled a small group of economic development people together for lunch. The group made the decision to target lawmakers to get the job done in Washington. Those lawmakers - from both Michigan and Wisconsin - came through for our community and our region with fling colors.

We are grateful for their support.

Many of these same lawmakers are leaving office this month. But they will do so on a high note.

And so we will celebrate the winter holidays on a note of optimism and gratitude.

And when the lighted tree is once again hoisted on the shipyard crane - a long-standing tradition - we will know it's Christmas for certain.

A Reason to Rejoice

Thanks to a generous community and an outstanding committee, the annual Holiday Charity Ball, a project of the chamber foundation, raised about $20,000 for the Twin Counties Free Clinic.

That was our goal: To bring our total gift back up to 2007 and 2008 levels after a challenging 2009.

Thanks to you, we were successful.

We have much to be thankful for in the runup to 2011. The past few years have created challenge for our local, regional, national and global economies. But in challenges lie small triumphs and we have seen our share.

Our community remains compassionate. We saw that recently as community members rallied around the family of a troubled young man who took his own life. It is easy to take pride in how community members provided support in the wake of a tragedy.

We are proud, too, of Marinette Marine and its employees who recently launched another littoral combat ship for Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy. We are thankful to the lawmakers who have shepharded a bill for more LCS vessels through Congress and hope their Senate colleagues will join them in a desire to create more jobs for our region, and especially the Marinette Menominee area.

Find a reason to rejoice this season, as we have many.

And thanks for helping us help the Twin Counties Free Clinic.

A Night to Shine

We're expecting more than 160 people to attend Friday night's Holiday Charity Ball at Schussler's in Peshtigo.

And why not? It's a chance to dress up, to have fun and dance, and to raise money for the Twin Counties Free Clinic.

The clinic serves uninsured and underinsured residents of both Marinette and Menominee counties. Since 2002, the chamber foundation, our charitable arm, has organized the charity ball to support the clinic. The committee, chaired this year by Diane Becker of Stephenson National Bank & Trust and Barb Van De Hei of Bay Cities Radio, began working together in August. Holly Meyer is the chamber staff liaison to the event, and she works closely with Candy Sheridan, the clinic director.

Everyone on the committee works hard to solicit donations that keep operational costs down so more money can find its way to the free clinic. Committee members seek silent and live auction items, sell raffle tickets, solicit cash donations for the clinic, and perform a myriad os other tasks large and small.

This year for the first time, the event has a them - other than holiday giving - that offers up a few surprises. As usual, auctioneer Nellie Beland of Superior Auction & Appraisal, has some fun up her sleeve.

Board member (and local attorney) Arthur Baron will be master of ceremonies, doing his best to imitate Dean Martin (he does a great job). A few other "stars" will also make appearances. (Did I mention the decorations are truly stellar?)

Holly and her team have this event choreographed down to the smallest detail. Chamber staffers Donna Zeratsky and Sandi Brumbaugh will be there to greet you and Joe Plautz will be our guy who gets things done.

It's going to be a fun evening. And better still, it's going to raise money for a good cause. Cash donations are already about twice the level as last year.

We live in a generous community.

Time to Pull Together

By its very definition, a chamber of commerce is a group of people working together.

We form committees to do just that. The committees are made up of chamber members, and representatives from the community. Our committees perform many tasks and tackle many challenges, from organizing programs like Mini Business World and Career Opportunities Expo to developing relocation materials for area companies to use when they recruit workers or Shop Local efforts to encourage area residents to support local businesses.

We actively seek partnerships with other organizations. We work closely with UW-Marinette, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Marinette County, and many other organizations. Recently, we've begun to build stronger partnerships with the M&M Area Community Foundation.

In other words, we collaborate. We pull together to harness the power of people working together.

Our community has just experienced a tragedy in one of its schools. It is time to pull together in a bigger way so that the healing can begin and we can prevent such tragedies in years to come.

It is too early to predict how we will work together in the future. Community needs gave birth to the Healthy Youth Coalition a decade ago and the DAR Boys Club (now the Boys and Girls Club) nearly a century ago. But we will work together and we will pull our community through the heartbreak of a young life lost and other lives endangered.

If you are called to serve in any way, please do so. What side of the river you live on is not important. The future of our community - and our young people - belongs to all of us.

Shop Local First

As Thanksgiving Day winds down, many of us are gearing up for Black Friday, the biggest and busiest shopping day of the year. Retailers dubbed it "black" because it's the day that puts them in the black for the fiscal year.

In reality, it all starts the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when the EagleHerald lands on our doorstep with an especially audible thump, chock full of fliers from every big store in town, from hardware stores and drug stores to big-box retailers. It's a good thing we've got a holiday on Thursday because it takes two days to pore over all the shopping circulars.

Rest up and eat well on Thankgiving because you'll need to sustain yourself on Friday. Go to bed early too, because some stores open in the wee hours of the morning, or earlier. One chamber staffer vows to be up and shopping at 4 a.m.

Think of this when you shop: Every time you spend $100 at a locally owned store, $68 stays in the community. When you shop at a local chain store, nearly $50 stays in the community. It's a good deal for everyone.

We're not telling you not to drive to Green Bay or Escanaba to shop. Those cities are part of our region, and some of our neighbors commute to jobs in those cities. But shop locally first; if you can't find it locally, then make that road trip.

On the other hand, as one of our members asked recently, "If you can't find it locally, do you really need it?"

Happy shopping.

Good-bye to an Old Friend

It's sad to see any business close, but the Globe is near and dear to the chamber's heart. So the closing of this venerable furniture store in downtown Marinette leaves a bittersweet feeling.

Tobias Kirmse founded the Globe in 1888. His son, Walter, was one of the founders of the former Marinette Area Chamber of Commerce in 1939. The Marinette chamber is one of our two ancester organiations, along with the Menominee/River Cities Chamber of Commerce.

Two of Walter descendents, John Plouff and Mary Plouff McCarrier, served as chamber presidents in 1968-69 and 1997-98 respectively.

Times have changed in the last 122 years. But through that time, the Globe has remained a retail destination for people who sought high-quality furniture for their homes. It has remained an anchor for downtown Marinette, even when our retail center gradually shifted to the south side of town.

We will miss this established family business, but we are pleased for Mary McCarrier and her family who will now have time to pursue other interests.

Downtown Marinette will survive, and morph into another kind of business center. We are extremely optimistic! The chamber was contacted recently by several businesses considering downtown locations. We are pleased that some of our members have shown interest recently in downtown's revival and we are exciting about working with them in the new year. We don't have to look far to find inspiration: Downtown Menominee!

Meanwhile, we salute the Globe and we thank the Kirmse-Plouff-McCarrier family for its belief in our community.

Celebrate the End of Road Construction Season

Winter is nearly here.

That means an end to the "other season." You know: Road Construction.

In 2010, road work was everywhere. We coped with dust and detours, barricades and big machinery. We grumbled, we laughed and we counted the days until deer hunting season, because that's when we knew it would finally be over. And it was.

We can now drive down Menominee's 10th Street and Marinette's Hall Avenue. Did we mention Shore Drive, 14th Avenue, Cleveland Avenue, 1st Street and County Trunk T?

It's done. For the time being. And we owe a huge thanks to the crews, from departments of transportation in two states to project overseers to the guys who made it happen by operating heavy machinery, laying sewer pipe and wiring street lights. We offer our kudos as well to the businesses who sweated it out, who called us when they had problems, who made us aware of new challenges.

The chamber raised money on the Menominee side to erect way-finding signs on 13th Street so drivers could locate 10th Street businesses. On the Marinette side, we had a modest amount of money left over from 2004-2005 road work, and we used that to create signage. Sometimes our efforts took longer than we - or businesses that were impacted by detours - would have liked. It wasn't perfect. But we did what we could with a combination of radio ads, signs, newspaper stories and Facebook posts. Chambers are generally wealthy organizations, so we had to make a small amount of money go a long way.

We also offered a low-cost customer relations workshop and created printed tip sheets aimed at helping our members create must-visit destinations that would draw in customers, regardless of road work and barricades.

The businesses who took our advice - and the advice of other members who'd been through major road projects - reported positive results. One of our members made it a point to make friends with the road crews and go our of his way to offer top-notch customer service. He happily reports that his business did well during the 7 1/2 months of road construction.

It's over now. I drove through the new Highway 64/180 roundabout today - easiest thing in the world and a real time-and-gas saver. I cruised down 10th Street - smooth.

Yes, it was a rough year. But the wait was worth it.

What is the chamber foundation?

For years we’ve been giving our members the option to make small donations to the Marinette Menominee Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation with their dues investment. We are grateful that so many have been so generous.

This generosity has funded scholarships for college-bound graduates in Marinette and Menominee counties. It has also created scholarships so that area non-profit employees and volunteers can attend the chamber’s Community Leadership Academy and funded a citizenship award for a deserving UW-Marinette student.

We will continue to give you the option of giving to the foundation when you renew your dues investment. We want to make it easy for you help us reward students for their achievements and train emerging community leaders.

Currently the foundation is working with a committee to raise money for the Twin Counties Free Clinic with the annual Holiday Charity Ball, set for Dec. 3 at Schussler's Supper Club in Peshtigo.

Because the foundation is a 501 (c) (3) organization, according the U.S. Tax Code, all donations are tax deductible. Our goal this year is to raise more cash donations as the free clinic, which helps uninsured and underinsured people in both counties access basic medical care, has experienced an increase in usage in the past several years.

The charity ball also includes live and silent auctions and many other opportunities to help the free clinic. Tickets are available at the chamber's office, 601 Marinette Ave. in Marinette.

Holly Meyer is event coordinator while Barb VanDeHei of Bay Cities Radio and Diane Becker of Stephenson National Bank & Trust are co-chairs. They are assisted by a hard-working committee, many of whom are affiliated with local health-care organizations.

Call us at 715-735-6681 for more information.

The Characteristics of a Good Volunteer

Within the definition of a chamber of commerce is the notion of working collectively to accomplish a goal.

We saw this recently at our July 10 Aurora-MACC Walk/Run, an event that requires the time, energy and talents of a great deal of volunteers. The beauty of this event is while a relatively small committee works very hard, beginning in January and ending in July, most of the volunteers are able to take small pieces of the event and do them successfully.

There were volunteers who helped with road markings, volunteers who served refreshments, volunteers who staffed the water stations and volunteers who help with cleanup. One volunteer delivered brochures all over Upper Michigan.

As a result, we had an especially well-run and implemented race this year, by all accounts, and the number of runners increased by 25 percent.

About six weeks later, it all came together again for our golf outing. Thanks to about 50 volunteers and the cooperation of Mother Nature, we showed 30 teams of golfers a good time.

The magic of people working together is happening right now as Holly Meyer, our program coordinator, works with the Holiday Charity Ball committee to raise money for the Twin Counties Free Clinic.

Obviously, we have some really wonderful volunteers at the chamber - about 200 of them. We have one person who brings wonderful ideas, bites off a small piece and gets it done, time after time. We have another volunteer who does unexpected small things that make a big difference - again and again. We have one who takes great pride in helping recruit new members. The list goes on and on.

Someone asked recently what the chamber looked for in volunteers. Here are some of the characteristics:

• A commitment to the project at hand. A commitment to the chamber as an organization is a big plus.


• Organizational skills and the ability to document facts, tasks and data.


• The ability to share the credit with other volunteers.


• A willingness to learn, to absorb new ideas and tackle new skills.


• A willingness to listen to another's point of view, and sometimes give up your own ideas to make someone else's ideas work.


• Respect for others and the ability to work in a team.


• High ethical standards. A good volunteer never does anything to put the chamber in a bad light.


• The ability to live up to promises or commitments in a timely manner. Or failing that, the ability to find a solution when this is not possible.


• Transparency. A good volunteer does not have a personal or hidden agenda.


• A cheerful disposition and positive outlook.

While the chamber has many opportunities for volunteers, there are still more in our community. Our friends at the Tri Cities Area United Way will host a Volunteer Opportunities Fair on Oct. 14 at NWTC in Marinette from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Visit us there and find a place for you!

How Chambers are Funded

We're working on final plans for our annual golf outing, set for Aug. 31 at Little River Country Club.

About a year ago, a chamber member asked me why we held a golf outing. This particular member thought we ought to concentrate on business development.

We agree. And that is exactly why we hold a golf outing every year: To raise money to fund our business development programs.

Chambers have two basic sources of income: Dues revenue and non-due revenue. The latter category includes money raised at special events, management fees, and sometimes rental.

Our annual golf outing falls into the special events category, along with our wine tasting and several other events. (For the record, the contract we have with Marinette County to manage tourism falls into the management fee category and the rent we receive from Don Clewley, executive director of the Marinette County Association for Business & Industry falls into the rental catergory.)

The golf outing raises an average of $10,000 annually. That money goes into our general fund, but it covers expensees associated with programs. Salaries are covered by your dues investment.

A smart chamber gets about 60 percent of its revenue from events and contracts and about 40 percent of its income from dues. That's roughly where we stand. Some chamber experts recommend different ratios, but generally a 60/40 ratio either way is considered healthy.

Many people assume chambers receive annual allocations from taxpayers or the government. That is simply not the case, unless the chamber has a contract as we do with Marinette County for tourism. A situation like that is not unusual.

No matter where our funding comes from, we work very hard to use it wisely.

And we look forward to our golf outing, a day to kick back and have a little fun - and raise money to fund programs like our new Web site job listing page and other online efforts to serve members.

Another new member benefit

We were excited this week to roll out another new benefit for chamber members: The ability to post Help Wanted ads on our Web site (http://www.mandmchamber.com/).

So far the response has been positive.

Last fall we launched another chamber member benefit: Cell phone discounts through Cellcom. That too brought a very positive response from members. One of our board members pointed to a $10 per month savings on cell phone calls. That adds up!

What we've heard from our members is that they want benefits that help their bottom lines, especially in these challenging economic times.

We will continue to seek ways to serve our members through benefits such as these.

There is no greater thrill for me as a director than to find ways to help your business flourish.

What exactly is a chamber of commerce?

I'm always glad when someone asks that question. It's a chance to talk about who we are and what we do.

We are first and foremost a business organization that serves its members. We have 420 members; serving as a resource for their success is our top goal. We do this by providing learning, networking and promotional opportunities. We make sure our members communicate with each other and we try to provide benefits that impact their bottom line.

We are also a community organization in that we look for opportunities to work with our member businesses to create the kind of community that's a good place to live and work. Often this involves coordinating special events, like the upcoming Aurora-MACC Run and Walk, which give people a chance to get out and get fit - together.

Our summer concert series is another example: It provides entertainment in what are arguably two of the loveliest natural settings in our community: Menominee's bayshore and Marinette's riverfront.

Much of our work involves bringing people together and creating a sense of pride in community. It is that pride that propels others forward to create other opportunities, like farm markets and art fairs.

It's a joke among seasoned chamber staffers everywhere that chambers hand out maps. We do that and we do it with pleasure! Every time someone new visits our office to learn about our community, we have another chance to make a friend.

Often, people are surprised to find out a chamber is not part of the government. We are not funded by tax dollars but by membership investments, special events profit and management contracts. We often work with government officials, but we are not attached to city, county, state or federal governments in any way.

If you have any questions about who we are and what we do, please contact me. I love to talk about what we do and how we are changing to better meet the needs of our members and the community.

Welcome to our chamber blog!

If you are reading this, you've probably accessed our new Web site (http://www.mandmchamber.com/).

As with most Internet projects, it's a work in progress. That is how it should be. A chamber must be a constantly evolving organization because the world we live in is constantly evolving. In order to meet the needs of our members, we've got to be nimble.

Electronic communication is nimble. If we want to get a message out to our members, we've got three fast options: E-mail, our Website and our Facebook page.

A blog is a different type of communication. It's fast, to be sure. But it's not necessarily the best method for quick communication.

Blog posts can be used to communicate longer messages, a bit like the director's message on the second page of Memo, our now quarterly newsletter.

It is our intent to use this blog to provide useful information to our members. Perhaps you'll find a post describing a member benefit, or a post clarifying what a chamber of commerce is and what it can do for members. (Some people think we are part of the government. Others think we give away free money. There are misconceptions out there.)

We could use this method of communication to offer tips to our member businesses. When we did a member survey last January, many members said they wanted us to provide useful information to help them manage their businesses, usually in the form of workshops or seminars. This blog could be another source of useful information.

Please check back frequently. Please talk back: There is space below each posts for your comments.

Our goal is to make our Website interactive and communicate better with our members, without bombarding them with e-mail. We think blogging is one way we can do that.