AUGUST 2022
Chamber News THE VOICE OF BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 11:00 AM - 7:00 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 NOON - 6:00 PM FREDERICK COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS
250 FAIRGROUND ROAD, CLEAR BROOK, VA
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SUNDAY 12:00 PM SHOTGUN SHIVER 3:00 PM BRICKYARD ROAD (LYNYRD SKYNYRD TRIBUTE)
Hard Cider Sampling & Drafts Cornhole Tournament
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Chair of the Board Scott Harvard First Bank
FEATURES 06 | LifeLeader 360
Chair-Elect Charles Daniels Fortessa Tableware Solutions
08 | Shaping the Story 10 | A Night Out with the Nation
Vice Chair Cary Nelson H.N. Funkhouser & Company
11 | Beat the Heat and Gas Prices Brian Nieves of Marlow Motors speaks to the group at Business After Hours at Market Street United Methodist Church about their 75 Acts of Kindness to celebrate Marlow Motor’s 75th Anniversary.
13 | Congressional Commendation I’m Just Me Movement
Treasurer Adrian Taylor YHB Immediate Past Chair John Fox GreenSen, LLC At Large Member Patti Solenberger Solenberger’s True Value Hardware
DEPARTMENTS 04 | New Members
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
05 | TVRC News and Events
Emily Burner WMC Foundation Andy Gail Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area
Top of Virginia Regional Chamber Sponsors Chamber Elite
Jenny Grooms Valley Health Jim Guisewhite SVN Commercial Specialists James Imoh Edward Jones Investments
Chairman’s Level
Kevin McKannan GlenLoch Legal, P.L.C.
President’s Level
Katrina Meade City National Bank Brian Nieves Tri-State Nissan Kristy Powers Navy Federal Credit Union
Media Sponsors
Thomas Stamulis True North Group Debera Taylor NW Works
Thanks to our new members who joined the Chamber between July 1 and July 31. To learn more about membership benefits, call 540-662-4118.
Tidal Wave Auto Spa of Winchester Wheels for Wellness (706) 646-7753 (540) 536-1006 jennifer@tidalwaveautospa.com Wheels4Wellness.org V Nails and Spa (540) 546-3456 admin@vnailsspawinchester.com
Love to NIC (571) 432-8607 Lovetonic.org
Keller Williams Realty (540) 665-2200 kellerwilliamsleesburg.com
Blossom Medical Aesthetics (540) 323-7254 blossomaesthetic.com/
CHAMBER STAFF Cynthia Schneider CEO
cschneider@regionalchamber.biz
Danita Roble Director, Membership Development
droble@regionalchamber.biz
Dan Hitchcock Membership Development Specialist
dhitchcock@regionalchamber.biz
Rex Petrey - Pearson Smith Realty Bull On The Run/Paladin Bar & (540) 336-6130 Grill pearsonsmithrealty.com (540) 868-8327 bullontherun.net Legend Mountain (540) 323-8777 Paladin Bar & Grill santastitcher@yahoo.com (540) 868-8327 paladinbarandgrill.com PenFed Credit Union (540) 486-3328 P2/Paladin Woolen Mill applynow.penfed.org (540) 208-2855 paladinwoolenmill.com Spero Health (540) 779-7469 No Bull Towing sperohealth.com (540) 252-9240 nobulltowingwinchester.com Reaching Out Now, Inc. (540) 692-6691 Property Management People, Inc. reachingoutnow.org (540) 546-8488 pmpbiz.com Turning Leaf Realty Group (540) 692-3182 Salon Kelectiv besthomesinthevalley.com (540) 545-5954 salonkelektiv.com Small Business Freedom Alliance (SBFA) SK2/Salon Kelectiv 2 SmallBusinessFreedomAlliance. (540) 545-5954 org salonkelektiv.com/sk2 info@SmallBusinessFreedom Alliance.org nurse coach chat (423) 653-0076 Keller Williams CAZA Winchester nursecoachchat.com Elevate Your Network Elevate Your Business (540) 974-1542 Elevate Your Voice thecazagroup.com Become a Chamber Member
Hannah Stewart Membership Development Specialist
hstewart@regionalchamber.biz
Julie Shaffer Director, Legislative Affairs
jshaffer@regionalchamber.biz
Vanessa McAllister Director, Programs & Events
vmcallister@regionalchamber.biz
Kory Campbell Director, Marketing & Communications
kcampbell@regionalchamber.biz
OUR PURPOSE Connect business and community resources for mutual success. OUR VISION Be the voice of business for Frederick & Clarke Counties and the City of Winchester, Virginia. OUR MISSION Provide programs and services to meet the business and professional needs of our members. 509 Airport Road Suite 200 Winchester, VA 22602 540-662-4118 regionalchamber.biz
TVRC NEWS & EVENTS The Valor Awards
Business After Hours 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm Bank of Clarke County
2 East Main St. Berryville, VA
Wednesday, August 10, 2022 First Bank
1835 Valley Ave. Winchester, VA
Wednesday, September 21, 2022 Tri-State Nissan
1230 Millwood Pike Winchester, VA
Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Valor Awards Top of Virginia Regional Chamber
Celebrating Above and 10th Annual Valor Awards Fox Meadow Barn Thursday, October 6, 2022 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Beyond
Every month, the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber holds an after-hours networking event designed for members to meet and build relationships with business people from small, midsize, and large companies and organizations representing a variety of industries. Chamber Members host this event at their businesses to encourage networking in an informal atmosphere complemented by food and beverage. Contact the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber to host one of these great events! Make sure to bring business cards and be ready to network. If you would like to participate, bring a door prize and bring recognition to your business. Please visit regionalchamber.biz to learn more
The Top of Virginia Regional Chamber has partnered with the local law enforcement and fire & rescue agencies in our region to host the Valor Awards, recognizing public safety professionals, volunteers, and citizens who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in protecting our community. Register for the Valor Awards at regionalchamber.biz
Check it out!
WinLife TV has recently launched to area viewers on Comcast channel 190 and at regionalchamber.biz. We are excited to further spotlight our members, connecting them to this vibrant community.
LifeLeader 360 Cary Dunston
So, I encourage you. It is a great course. I am a little biased. We have one coming up in September. Several folks in this room attended and we are lucky enough to have a graduate who will talk about the course. David told me I am trusting because I have no idea what he is going to say, so I am going to introduce him as one of the brightest individuals I have ever met in my life. He is a star student. I highly encourage you to get to know him. So, with that, David do you want to come up?
David George
This is funny. Vanessa sent me an email a couple of weeks ago and said would you speak about this course? Sure, no problem. Cary says “Hey, I appreciate you doing that.” Never once did they ask what I was going to say.
I am David George, a credit officer for the Bank of Clarke County here in Winchester and Northern Virginia. I will share a little bit of my story regarding the Business Leadership Program. Early in January, my Executive Vice President calls me into his room and says “Hey, the Chamber is putting on this business leadership/management program.” We would like to support the Chamber and send somebody to this. Would you like to go? Here is some information. Let me know tomorrow. All right... Let me give you a background of my leadership experience. I was eight years in the Winchester Army National Guard. Started off as a private. By the time I was done, I was a First Lieutenant. I had a little bit of leadership experience there. In my civilian career, I am 25 years in the financial services industry, starting off in an entry-level position before tran-
David George speaks at the 2022 CLP graduation about his experince in the Business Leadership Program
sitioning to several management and upper-management level positions. So, you know, I am thinking one day a week, the next four weeks… I am not really feeling it. Do I really need another? “You are off to a good start,” Cary remarks from the side of the room. I have been to so many seminars. Being honest. So many seminars and courses. I have attended them. I have led some. I have been in the leader groups. So, I go back into my Executive Vice President’s office, and I say, “YES SIR! I would love the opportunity to attend this class.” So fast forward through this whole program and I am here to tell you. I was wrong, way wrong, not even in the same vicinity of being right. this program was unreal. Like nothing I had ever experienced before.
New concepts, thought processes, innovative ideas. It is upper-level stuff, but it was phenomenal. Mental models, leaps of abstraction, ladder of inference, emotional intelligence, life buckets, leadership styles, positional versus personal, the importance of your story, the importance of everybody’s story, and I am just touching on a little of it. It was fantastic. The course has business and personal aspects to it. How you relate to people at your job, how you relate to your spouse, how you relate to your children, how you relate to your fellow employees, self-improvement. I truly, truly am thankful that I took this course. You have no idea. Never stop learning, never think you know it all. I did not think I knew it all, but I thought I knew enough. Wrong. I recommended it to my HR Department. I recommended it to the president of our bank. I would certainly recommend it to you if you have the opportunity. It was phenomenal.
Apply now at regionalchamber.biz
Graduates of the inaugural Business Leadership Program featuring LifeLeader 360
A generous donation from Marlow Motors
Shaping the Story
Looming literacy problems are getting early recognition as organizations across our region are currently looking to bolster the available workforce. A collaboration has surfaced to ensure there is a strong talent pool for years to come. The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is a national effort that is now crafting a new chapter to the story of Winchester, Virginia. The program focuses on grade-level reading by the end of third grade, where proficiency in reading enables students to shift from learning to read to reading to learn. Students who are not reading at grade-level before entering fourth grade have been shown to have a higher percentage to drop out before graduating high school. While the data shows that third grade is a key predictor of the success of students and soon-to-be adults, the primary push is targeted to improve literacy prior to kindergarten, especially for low-income families. Ninety percent of the brain is developed by age five.
Andy Gail poses with Dolly Parton at National Night Out
Locally, the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is spearheaded by Literacy Volunteers of the Winchester Area (LVWA) and Executive Director, Andy Gail. The Community Solutions Action Plan submitted on January 10, 2022 by LVWA, has some encouraging data coupled with eye-opening statistics on Winchester, Virginia. While graduation rates have remained intact, third grade reading proficiency has dropped twelve percent from the 2016-2017 school year to 2018-2019. The pandemic years have been shown in many other areas to have widened this gap, but no testing was done during those years to provide statistical information to compare. The gap also grew in comparison with students throughout the Commonwealth. Local students were nine percent behind the state average in 2016-2017 but sat fourteen percent lower in 2018-2019. The state average also dropped four percent during that time. Statistics of reading performance for economically disadvantaged families dropped nine percent locally, where the state saw a five percent decrease. Alarmingly, students who are learning English, fell twenty-eight percent from 2016 to 2021.
There was a problem before there was a problem. These statistics forecast the years to come for education and workforce development in our area. Steep dives prior to the pandemic are all predicted to be accelerated by the time spent out of the classroom during social distancing. Nationally, concerns are raised regarding the next generation’s preparation for success to graduate high school, continue to higher education, participate in the military, or succeed in a global economy. There is a good reason to be concerned when you look at education systems around the world. The United States ranks highest for our education system, but American students fall behind internationally in subjects such as math and science. A Business Insider report in 2018 listed the United States 24th overall in science and 38th in math. Andy stands with Emily Marlow Beck of Marlow Motors after a donation
What is the solution? Well, like any good problem, the solution often lies back at the very beginning. If ninety percent of the brain is formed by age 5, that is where we need to make an impact now. If we want a capable workforce for years to come, then we need to invest time with our young children now. There are great tools to find this time in our busy days and incredible leadership collaborating to enhance literacy in our region’s youth. The Winchester Campaign is currently made up of the following Organizations, Individuals, and Agencies: The John and Janice Wyatt Foundation Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area Winchester Public Schools Handley Regional Library System Healthy Families Northern Shenandoah Valley Bright Futures Pediatric Associates of Winchester Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum The Kids Club of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Top of Virginia Regional Chamber Community Foundation of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Grafton Infant & Toddler Connection of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Winchester Book Gallery STARBASE Winchester Winchester Department of Social Services Laurel Ridge Community College Valley Health Anita Jenkins Valley Assistance Network Youth Development Center If you or your organization would like to get involved with the Campaign, please reach out to Andy Gail at agail@lvwa.org for more information.
Literacy Volunteers of the Winchester Area has partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (imaginationlibrary. com/) to provide a free book mailed once a month to children who register in our region from birth to age 5. “There is no amount of screen time that can replace lap time,” says Andy Gail. “We want to get books in hands.” With such a list of local collaborators and a sharp eye to use national foundations to support their mission, LVWA is well on the way to accomplishing the goals of the campaign.
“There is no amount of screen time that can replace lap time.” Andy Gail - Executive Director Literacy Volunteers of the Winchester Area
Goals of the Campaign: Winchester’s overarching vision is to increase the percentage of 3rd graders reading at or above the proficient level to at least 75% from 52% in the next 10 years based on the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) ELA assessment. We will work in three work groups to improve: School Readiness Increase the number of children ready for kindergarten to at least 80% from 67% of children being ready based on their performance on the PALS-K. The focus will be on the further development of high-quality preschool and daycare programs and on offering families outof-school options to further learning and growth. School Attendance Reduce chronic absenteeism and achieve rates at or below 10% among K-3rd graders at all four elementary schools by 2025. Summer and Afterschool Learning Increase by 100% the number of K-3rd grade students who have access to summer and after-school opportunities that focus on literacy-related learning and enrichment.
As the 10th Annual Valor Awards begin to take shape for the upcoming October 6th event, celebrating actions that have gone above and beyond the call of duty in protecting our community, National Night Out took to the streets of Winchester and throughout the county to connect law enforcement to communities. Families and neighbors were able to meet local police and sheriff departments, fire and rescue departments, and local non-profits at Jordan Springs Elementary School, Laurel Ridge Community College, Old Town Winchester, and Rose Hill Park in Berryville, Virginia. If you were in downtown Winchester for the event, you may have also come across Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears showing her support for our community and those who serve to protect. Local event organizers were glad to see the event so well attended by the community and vendors with over forty booths set up on the walking mall after a few years of limited participation. Events all over our region were a great success.
Sheriff Les Taylor waves at a young man at National Night Out
A Night Out with the Nation
Across the Commonwealth, 124 cities took part in National Night Out.
An officer warms up before a cornhole tournament between first responders
The Winchester Police Department is covering a vehicle to support the Child Safe Center
Two National Night Out attendees learn CPR
Lt. Gov. Earle-Sears pauses to listen to a community member
Beat the Heat and Gas Prices Avoid the high gas prices and plan a staycation on Labor Day weekend. The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival® and Concern Hotline are partnering once again for a fun-filled community celebration on Labor Day weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday, enjoy local BBQ, craft beer, hard cider, live music, bourbon tasting, a Cornhole Tournament and other fun tailgate games at the HoneyCar BBQ & Brews. The event takes place from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm on Saturday, September 3, 2022 and Noon to 6:00 pm on Sunday, September 4, 2022 at the Frederick County Fairgrounds.
MSV BUSINESS FORUM LUNCHEON
How Shifting Employee Values are Shaping the Future of Work Thursday, September 29 Enjoy networking (11 a.m.), lunch (11:45 a.m.), and an engaging panel presentation (12:15 p.m.) about the effect of changing employee values on the workplace—How Shifting Employee Values are Shaping the Future of Work—from Dr. Tracy Fitzsimmons, president, Shenandoah University; Holly Kortright, CHRO, Navy Federal Credit Union; Sarah Cohen, president, Route 11 Potato Chips; Mika Cross, federal workforce expert and strategist; and moderator, Tammy Bjelland, CEO, Workplaceless. Free to MSV Art of Business corporate partners; registration required. To register for in-person attendance, contact Sherry Hudson, senior director, institutional advancement, at shudson@theMSV.org or 540-662-1473, ext. 211. Virtual attendance: free to MSV corporate partners; MSV members: $15, all others: $20. Register for virtual attendance at www.theMSV.org/BFL22 by September 22. Presented with event partner First Bank.
The MSV corporate partnership program The Art of Business offers a number of ways for companies to meet their marketing, philanthropic, community engagement, employee benefit and client hospitality objectives. Get more details about levels of giving at www.theMSV.org/AofB or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 211.
901 Amherst St., Winchester, VA | www.theMSV.org/BFL22
Members of the nonprofit I’m Just Me Movement were honored amongst other community members for their role in the “I Can’t Breathe” event in Winchester in 2021. Delegate Wendy Gooditis commended the group in front of the Hideaway Cafe on the Loudoun Street Mall. In order to move the permits forward for the event, the I’m Just Me Movement had to back the event and accept liability for the peaceful demonstration in the wake of George Floyd’s death. The community proved to be trustworthy and the organization expressed so much gratitude to the event participants who remained peaceful and other organizations that allowed the ball to get rolling as well. Keven Walker, CEO of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation was an integral piece in order to allow the march to happen in Old Town Winchester. The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation owns the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Museum
Congressional Commendation
I’m Just Me Movement
where the I Can’t Breathe walk began and ended. “This was expedited pretty quickly,” said Councilwoman Mady Jimenez Rodriguez, “things that take about six months to happen, happened in two days and a lot of that was because of Keven at the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation. If he would have said no, this would have never happened.”
It is the mission of the I’m Just Me Movement to strengthen youth, families, and communities through mentorship, education and training, positive development, and community partnerships. The I Can’t Breathe event was a perfect example of the nonprofit’s mission in action.
To learn more about the I’m Just Me Movement, please visit imjustmemovement.org
Image courtesy of Fox Sports AM1550 Winchester
Fun with Membership
Working Together Builds Our Region and Beyond
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1. Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Winchester opened their doors at 150 Faraday Plaza in Winchester, VA. Cutting the ribbon is General Manager Dave Clontz and he is flanked by Owner Randy Craun and David Cavallero, President of managing company Guest Inc. Dario Savarese was on hand to thank Microtel for their sponsorship of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival even before opening their doors in the region. This is a perfect location for out of town guests to stay to enjoy the BBQ & Brews event on Labor Day weekend. 2. Karin Mercendetti cuts the ribbon to welcome Keller Williams Realty to their Winchester/Leesburg office. They are located at 201 N Loudoun Street, the previous Wells Fargo location just north of the Loudoun Street Mall. You can enter from the parking lot/teller side of the building. 3. The Young Professionals Group cools off in the Winchester County Club pool after a hard day of work. 4. When flooding hit the lower portions of Virginia, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears reached out to the Top of Virginia region to see what assistance could be offered. With the help of the United Way of the Northern Shenandoah Valley, TVRC CEO Cynthia Schneider was able to connect with Director of Operations Melissa Corliss of Rubbermaid Commercial Products. Within 24 hours, a truckload of supplies was arriving to our southern neighbors. 5. We are stronger together!
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