We have so many updates, I don’t even know where to start!

First, welcome to Karrie Quigley, who is joining us as the new Office Manager. She comes with bookkeeping and government experience having managed the Whitman County Cemetery and Fire Districts. She, her husband, and three teenagers just moved from St. John to the Valley. And, our beloved Kristina Bickford returned from maternity leave only to discover that she wants to be a stay-at-home mom. Precious little ones are so hard to leave! She has been helping with the transition; we wish her a big thank you and a very warm farewell as she departs this month.

The Annual Chamber Awards Banquet is on January 24, 2024! Submit your nominations for Business of the Year award here. You are welcome to nominate yourself or another organization. Please look through the Chamber directory on our website for businesses to nominate. New this year: if you are a member at the $550 level or above, you have at least two complimentary tickets to attend the event. Please check your benefit tracking module in the online portal to view these and register for the event. And, if you know any high school seniors from FFA or 4H, please send them THIS application form for the Ag Banquet Awards.

The much-anticipated migration to the new Chamber software platform is here! As part of that upgrade, our member levels and rates have been enhanced and updated. Most have been rounded (ex: $539 to $550), and a few consolidated. (For example, the Supporting, Nonprofit, and Individual levels were combined into “Entrepreneur”.)  All members have been converted to the new levels in the new system; please let us know if anything looks amiss. 

Along with information about the enhanced benefit packages, the new portal login information was emailed on January 4^th. You should be able to post your events, jobs, and promotions through the website and also track your benefits, including using them to register online. Note that anyone who wants to register for the event must have a profile in our database to do so. If you are having problems registering, it is likely because the person does not have an email (or the email is not an exact match) in our database. Please contact us if you are having problems either logging in or registering for the events.

Business After Hours will be at St. Joe’s this month! A big shout-out to our fabulous hosts from December: Deb Zenner of DZ Designs, Debbie Lee of Assist2Sell Real Estate, and Michelle Ralston of Gram’s Kitchen (and Advantage Advertising). Fun was had by all! Finally, we want to hear your updates–employee transitions, company milestones, new business endeavors, and LLCV Alumni news. This is a great way to publicize your company’s happenings. Please send your news and updates to [email protected] by the last day of the month before publication (ex: January 31 for the February newsletter). Thank you!

This newsletter is the last communication we will send from the old list, so if you haven’t received the email with login information to the upgraded portal, you aren’t in our new database! Please contact us to get it corrected!

Linnea Noreen
President / CEO