Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce Newsletter • Pages 11-14

Scotts Valley Chamber News Save the Date!

Scotts Valley’s 2020 Virtual Gala Awards Ceremony

The Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce the theme, date and format for their annual awards gala.

Dubbed “Stayin’ Alive”, the event will be virtual and will be available on both the Chamber’s Facebook page as well as My Scotts Valley’s Facebook page on March 13th from 6 to 8 pm. Danny Reber and Robert Aldana will co-host the fun-filled evening.

The night will kick off with a music video being produced by Tam Communications. A parody of the Bee Gees’ 1977 hit song “Stayin’ Alive”, the Tam team will be reaching out to members of the community to provide video, showing off their best dance moves and most outrageous disco threads.

Susan O’Connor Fraser, Tam’s Creative Director, notes that the song will be made available to the Community by February 8th and the crowd-sourced video deadline is February 26th.

More info will be announced on the Chamber’s Facebook page.

Award winners, announced last month, include: Business of the Year–Tam Communications; Woman of the Year–Joanne Guzman; Man of the Year–Michael Hanson; Educator of the Year–Erik Wyner; Youth of the Year–Anika Mistry; Organization of the Year–Santa Cruz Moose Lodge; Beautification Project of the Year–Glenwood Preserve; and Honorary Ambassador of the Year–Angela Marshall.

Each winner will be queued up by last year’s award winner and then a video profile will roll, featuring members of the community.

Musical performances by students of Bobbie Ward’s Performance Vocals and Sydney Gorham of Mountain Music School will also be integrated into the program.

People who register for the event will also be automatically entered into opportunity drawings that will be held throughout the two hours and those in attendance will have the chance to go live and be featured in the program.

You can learn more and register for the event at the Chamber’s website https://scottsvalleychamber. com/awards-gala/.

If you’d like to donate, contact Board President Jeanette Larkin at jlarkin@scottsvalleychamber.com. If you’re interested in sponsoring and having a commercial play during the program, contact Danny Reber at dreber@santacruzchamber.com. All funds raised will support local businesses and the Chamber.

Letter to Scotts Valley Community from Raelyn D’Amelio Little People’s Store Seeking Community Support — GoFundMe Goal: $11,500

The Little People’s Store is a small children’s consignment boutique with clean, quality children’s items at prices everyone can afford. I purchased this business from the original owner Shelly Leeman in 2010, a Santa Cruz resident, who had a passion for young people and green living.

From a young age, Shelly saw a demand in the community to provide local families with a trade-in platform to recycle gently used items with a quick turnaround.

As a result of Covid-19, my business has been heavily impacted and I find myself in a place of financial hardship. From the bottom of my heart, I seek to keep my doors open and continue serving the community at a time where the concept of recycling items is needed now more than ever.

I’m reaching out to you because I have been having experiencing difficulty paying rent for my business, as the doors were closed for several months with zero trade-in services offered or inventory turnover — especially with children growing so quickly with different interests at every age!

My mission as a small business owner is to keep the community green, eliminate waste, and support other local businesses. My vision is to continue providing my community with a trade-in network to avoid simply throwing away unwanted children’s clothing, furniture, and toys when they could be traded-in, consigned, or donated. Otherwise, these items will end up in landfills, adding to the billions of pounds of textile waste already in the ground.

Fortunately, children’s boutique consignment shopping has become increasingly popular in California as people continue to look for more ways to reduce waste, making a conscious effort to live sustainably.

This environmentally-friendly shopping experience allows parents and guardians to recycle baby, toddler, and children’s items giving them a second life. For this reason, I have started a Go Fund Me account to keep my doors open and help me catch up on rent in order to keep my green vision thriving.

“Little People” page 13