Gulf County Chamber of Commerce

01/19/08                               Old-Fashioned Hog Butchering, 8 AM (CST) – Panhandle Pioneer Settlement, Sam Atkins Park

02/23/08               Second Annual St. Joseph Bay Bridal Expo

Sponsored by Panache and Petals by the Bay – Centennial Building, Port St. Joe

Port St. Joe Salt Air Farmer’s Market Preview

American Cancer Society – Relay for Life

United Way of Northwest Florida Celebrity Bagging Fundraiser

Code Adam – Know what to do when a CHILD is LOST in your workplace

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun – or as a frog says, “Time’s Fun When Your Having Flies”.

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to having our best year yet and we start 2008 with a refresher on Building Rapport with Your Website.

Being a member of the Chamber of Commerce gives you credibility in the minds of potential customers. A store front with a “Member of the Gulf County Chamber of Commerce” sticker on it instantly develops trust and rapport with a potential customer. You have the sticker on your store front, but do you have it on your website? You can build that instant trust with visitors by adding a link to the Gulf County Chamber of Commerce web page to your homepage. It is easy to have your website developer add the link when you freshen up your website for 2008.

Please notify the Chamber of community events for our website calendar.

Make sure you have loaded your logo or picture to your company contact listing on the Chamber website.

You can update your contact information here also.

January also means membership investments are “due”.

Our dues are one of the lowest in the state of Florida. Our goal is to give you a great return on your investment by offering added benefits, such as free website exposure, reasonable pricing on web advertising (coming in 2008) and keeping you informed and up-to-date on current events in our area through eCURRENTS and the Chamber Newsletter (contact the chamber to have your or an associate’s email address added). We are always open to suggestions on ways to help you – our businesses and friends.

Foremost on our minds is the mission of our Chamber:

“To be an advocate for existing businesses and the community, a conduit for pursuing positive developments and a catalyst for cooperation”.

Another fantastic group of

Many THANKS to our local vendors who participated!

Thank you to our Christmas on the Coast 2007 sponsors:

The City of Port St. Joe

10^th Street Bed and Breakfast

Century 21 Gulf Coast Realty

Duren’s Piggly Wiggly

Faith Bible School – Bill Taylor

Family Life Church

Frost’s Pottery Garden

Indian Pass Raw Bar

St. Joe Sod and Landscape Supply

The Gulf County Breeze

The Nail Place

The Christmas on the Coast Committee

is a very special group of volunteers!

This group meets at the Chamber office monthly – PLANNING!

We THANK them profusely for all their hard work and dedication!!!

 Lighted Parade – Sandy Bish (Donamelia’s)

 Boat Parade – Ray Whitney (PSJ Yacht Club)

Public Safety – PSJ Police Dept. & Chief David Barnes

Tree Lighting Ceremony – Andrew & Cathy Rutherford

(Family Life Church)

Reindeer Run – Jenny Mercuri

 Vendors – Bobbi Seward (Tapper & Company)

Special Partners include:

City Manager, N. Lee Vincent

A Very Special Thank You to:

(a.k.a. Mr. & Mrs. Claus)

Page 5 (with page 4)

Christmas on the Coast 2007 

Photo credit: Debbie Hooper, Cynde Aaron, Suzanne Doran, Bill Walker, Sonny Chafin

Faith Christian School

Christian Family Daycare – 2^nd Place

Division of Forestry & Smokey the Bear – 3^rd Place

MainStay Suites, Port Inn & The  Thirsty Goat – 1^st Place

Danny Peak – 1^st Place

Second Place - Jim and Betty Estes, Tortuga

Third Place (tie) - Dale Helemn, Jackal, Ray and Patsy Whitney, PatsyRay

First Place - Hunter and Aimee Palmer, Event Horizon

Second Place - Henry and Mary Flack, Patience Too

Joy Godsey and Sally Kopp, Pyxis

Overall Female: Meghan Williams, 19            22:56:87

Masters Female: Diane Morris, 49                  23:41:82

Chamber Events

Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser at Peppers Mexican Cantina and Grill

American Cancer Society Relay for Life 2008 Kick Off Party

Suzanne Doran, Relay for Life 2008 Event Chair, awards the Hope Award to DarleneSpencer. As caretaker to her late husband and a tremendous volunteer for the A.C.S., Darlene’s actions have given so much HOPE to those with cancer.

Darlene Spencer, Relay for Life 2008 Team Development Chair, presents a framed photograph of his memorable experience kissing a pig, to Bill Williams, Gulf Co. Board of County Commissioners Chairman. Mr. Williams “won” this opportunity by receiving the most votes (money) in his jar at the 2007 Relay for Life in a fundraiser thought up by the Gulf CountyCourthouse Team - Beauties and the Beast.

Anyone interested in joining a team for Relay for Life or sponsoring the 2008 event, please contact Suzanne Doran 850-370-6614 or Darlene Spencer 850-647-9661.

Celebrity “Baggers” raising money through donations at Duren’s Piggly Wiggly in Port St. Joe and at Rich’s IGA in Wewahitchka. The United Way has raised over $42,250 so far in Gulf County – 85% of their $50,000 goal.

Do your employees know what to do when a CHILD is LOST in your workplace? Code Adam provides the answer!

Why is “Code Adam” important to your store, employees, patrons, and community?

It may be one of a parent’s worst nightmares - suddenly your child is missing. It may happen at an amusement park, a clothing store, a department store, or a supermarket. This is exactly what happened to Revé and John Walsh on July 27, 1981, when their 6-year-old son, Adam, was abducted from a Florida department store. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in a one-year period of time 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” abductions in which a slight acquaintance or someone unknown to the family detained a child overnight, transported the child at least 50 miles, held the child for ransom, or abducted the child with the intent to permanently keep or kill the child.

We will never know whether or not Adam would have survived on that July morning in 1981 if a program like Code Adam had been in place, but this program has the potential to save many children like Adam. Since its development and implementation, Code Adam has successfully thwarted abductions in progress. You may help reduce this number by encouraging your businesses, libraries, public buildings, and others in your community to adopt the Code Adam program.

Since the beginning of the Code Adam program in 1994 it has been a powerful search tool for lost and possibly abducted children in tens of thousands of establishments across the nation, and it is one of the country’s largest child-safety programs. A Code Adam decal is posted at a building’s entrance alerting the public of the location’s participation in the program.

There are six steps employees are trained to follow when a Code Adam is activated

1. If a visitor reports a child is missing, a detailed description of the child and what he or she is wearing is obtained.
2. The employee goes to the nearest in-house telephone and pages Code Adam, describing the child’s physical features and clothing. As designated employees monitor front entrances, other employees begin looking for the child.
3. If the child is not found within 10 minutes, law enforcement is called.
4. If the child is found and appears to have been lost and unharmed, the child is reunited with the searching family member.
5. If the child is found accompanied by someone other than a parent or legal guardian, reasonable efforts to delay their departure will be used without putting the child, staff, or visitors at risk. Law enforcement will be notified and given details about the person accompanying the child.
6. The Code Adam page will be canceled after the child is found or law enforcement arrives.

There is no cost to participate in this program. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) will mail you a free Code Adam kit. The kit includes

• A training video to show your employees
• A break room poster explaining the program steps
• Two decals to put on entrances announcing your participation in Code Adam

For more information about the Code Adam program, write to:

Code Adam
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Charles B. Wang International Children’s Building
699 Prince Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-3175

Or calling toll-free at 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678)
Or E-mailing at codeadam@ncmec.org