PRESIDENT'S LETTER

To Our Members:

On Thursday, March 8th, nearly 200 North Coast Chamber members and guests gathered at Tom’s Country Place for our annual Mayor’s luncheon! What a great turnout! A very special “thank you” to Mayor Greg Zilka from Avon Lake; Mayor John Hunter from Sheffield Village; Mayor James Smith from Avon and Mayor Dennis Bring from Sheffield Lake for their time and positive comments regarding their communities for the upcoming year. It is great to have the support of these honorable mayors in the business communities as well as their involvement in our Chamber.

I would like to welcome eleven new members to the Chamber. Eileen Donahue from Eileen Donahue Contract Bookkeeper in Avon Lake; Jeffrey Stupp from Gallagher Sharp in Cleveland; Jim Smola from GPS Financial Group in Avon; Denny Voytko from Parties to Go/Handy Rents in Lorain; Linda LaFleur from LaFleur Srodek Group at Keller Williams, Greater Cleveland West; Barb Cagley from TM Consulting Services in Avon Lake; Matthew Maxwell, CFP® from UBS Financial Services, Inc. in Westlake; Bob Moore from Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC in Westlake; Kate Kasunic from Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland; Anita Simko from Paychex in Hudson and Steve Lucas from Huntington Bank in Westlake.

Spring is here and that always means a visit with our friend, Bob DiBiasio, Vice President of Public Relations of the Cleveland Indians who joined us at Fratello’s Restaurant in Avon Lake to give us the inside scoop on our beloved Cleveland Indians baseball team! As usual, Bob did not disappoint us with his insight to the new and tenured players for the season and, of course, some great dugout and locker room stories. Thank you to Bob for taking time to travel across town to talk to us and, of course, to our long time Chamber friend, Fratello’s Restaurant for preparing and serving such a delicious lunch. This event was sponsored by Theresia Oreskovic from Peter & Co. Jewelers.

Our North Coast Chamber of Commerce 21st Annual Golf Outing at Sweetbriar Golf Club, 750 Jaycox Road in Avon Lake will be Friday, June 1st. If you are interested in participating, please check our website at www.northcoastchamber.com for all the information regarding a foursome and, of course, sponsorship information. As many of you know, last year was a sell out and we are expecting the same for this year, so please get your reservations in to us as soon as possible. The helicopter ball drop is happening again at this year’s event, so please get your ball drop tickets so you are not left out. This event is a lot of fun – good food, prizes and cash winnings! Part of the proceeds from this golf outing will fund three college scholarships for area high school students.

As you all know, we have had a lot of fun with the Power of More attendance participation. On June 13th we will finally find out the winner of the 3-year car lease, Apple iPad, HD Wide Screen Television and many other prizes! Please join us at the Montrose Kia dealership located on Route 254 and I-90 for the Power of More Business After Hours event from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. It will be a great night and who knows – it may be you who drives away with the car lease!!

I look forward to seeing you in the next few weeks at the golf outing and the Power of More event.