You can download the 2011 action agenda for Churubusco as a PDF here.

Currently the Chamber is supporting the idea(s), but has not officially adopted the report.

If you have questions, concerns or ideas the Chamber would like to hear from you!

The idea is quite simple. Follow these three simple steps and you could help keep our local brick & mortar businesses in town and not too mention the money as well.

1. Pick three local businesses you’d like to support
2. Spend $50 of your monthly budget between these three businesses
3. And that’s it!

How does this help, you ask?

For every $100 spent locally, $68 of that stays in the local community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. If you spend the same amount with a national chain, that $68 drops to $43. And if you spend it online, NONE of that returns home unless you’re using a local business.

If you’re not already a supporter, I highly suggest you go to the 3/50 project and become one today. As of right now Fort Wayne barely has a dozen businesses listed and Columbia City isn’t even on the list. Let’s see if Churubusco can become one of the top supporters of this effort!

We’d also like to hear back from you on whether or not the Churubusco Chamber should support this cause as well.

At their first board meeting of the year, the Churubusco Chamber board members met at the Frazier House south of Churubusco and decided on their board members.

Chris Tomlinson of Gonink Web Design & Print will remain the president and Dave Pearson of G&K Golf Karts will be the vice president. Dee Dee McCoy retains her position as executive secretary and John Schmidt will once again carry on the duties of secretary of treasure.

1. to give a quick, sharp, shrill cry, as a dog or fox.
2. to call or cry out sharply

But in the online world a “yelp” is a website that gives consumers the opportunity to talk about their favorite businesses and places to visit. In August of 2010, more than 38 million people visited the site to find great places to eat, a dentist in their local neighborhood or a mechanic that was very good at what they do.

Are you listed on yelp.com and if so, what’s being said about your company and your brand?

In the ever growing world of business online it’s important to use a site like this to listen to your consumers and it’s FREE to use.

So take a moment now and go to yelp.com or look here at the listings about Churubusco under yelp and see for yourself who is being talked about and who isn’t.

Just recently I was surfing the site looking for information on a particular business in the area. When I did locate the business I noticed a visitor had left some negative feedback for the company.

It can become crucial for you to keep an eye on these types of situations to thwart any further negative comments and/or feedback about your business. And if you have to be totally transparent in your answer, customers might be more inclined to work with you despite the bad rap you’ve received on the site.

I just wanted to write a quick note and fill you in on the meeting a few of us board members had with Matt Bell this morning.

As some of you may or may not know, Matt is longer an Indiana State Representative, but now the director of the Northeast Indiana Regional Chamber of Commerce.

We wanted to sit down and discuss this new entity in the area and get some facts about the organization before we made any formal decisions about whether to join or abstain for the time being.

Some of the facts are:

• Is an advocacy group for the 10-county region
• They want to add an additional value to your local chamber membership and take members concerns directly to the statehouse
• They’re working on a strategic plan to build a regional & local agenda along with setting priorities
• Will be working towards the 2020 Vision statement and goals
• Currently has 9 board members, the majority of which are Allen County people with influence, but looking towards a 15 member board that’s more inclusive of the region

As mentioned above, this organization is not looking to absorb or takeover area chambers such as ours, they just want to have a stronger voice in the legislative branch when certain agenda’s could arise that would effect all of us as business owners.

As we mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of new stuff going on here, but we wanted to point out a few key features we’re going to be rolling out as time goes on.

• A letter from our Chamber President periodically
• Articles written for members, by members. We’re really excited about this!
• The ability to find businesses based on categories and a multitude of sub-categories
• Easier video implementation, editing and uploading
• The ability to have way more than just a listing on our site, but a presence with a short description about your business, small graphics and even photos!
• And so much more!

Let me first thank you for visiting our site and I’m so excited to announce that this new one is going to offer our members more visibility than we could ever imagine.

Some of the highlights will be:

• Members for Members: This will be a featured article written by our members for our members. If you have expertise in your business and think it would be good for our readers, we want to hear from you!
• Monthly Updating: We’ll be updating the site more frequently with tips, ideas, suggestions and of course vital information that could effect you as a business
• Videos: We now will have an easier time of creating and updating videos about our community and the people who live here

Again, this is just a short note to remind you that our chamber is here more than ever and we’re very proud to have you part of it!

Chamber president Chris Tomlinson said he was very pleased that Horne had been named as the recipient, stating that Horne had not only accomplished much as a businessman, but had also been a longtime board member and contributor to the chamber organization.

Horne  said he was pleased to be on hand to receive the award and thanked Tomlinson and chamber members for the honor.

I almost didn’t make it here today,” Horne said, “Then everyone in my office – including my wife – told me I HAD to go. And I’m glad I did.

Horne has been very active in the Churubusco Chamber of Commerce serving as a president until earlier this year, when health issues forced him to step down and hand the job over to Tomlinson, who was vice president at that time. Horne also served as the Churubusco coordinator for the United Way of Whitley County, where he serves on the board of directors, and is a member of the Churubusco Rotary where he served as an officer in the past.

The award was presented by Chamber President Jim Horne to Ken Hill at the annual fall banquet held Thursday at the Eel River Golf Course Clubhouse.

Ken and Karan Hill started the business Dec. 3, 1997, while Karan was working as director of the Churubusco Public Library. She became friends with one of the library patrons who had started a rent-to-own business in the Central Building on Main Street.

Eventually Karan bought the business from her friend and left the library to devote herself fulltime to the store.

Karan Hill soon phased out the rent-to-own business and expanded the video rental portion of the business. The couple named the new business K & K, an abbreviation of their first names.

Soon thereafter, they had an opportunity to purchase the Central Building. After buying the building, which houses apartments upstairs and business and retail shops downstairs, the couple expanded the video shop even more and added a second hand clothing shop, as well.

“The video store was doing so well, it was just a natural to expand it,” Karan Hill said.

Four years ago, Hills purchased the former Papa’s Place building at the corner of Washington and Main streets and moved their business north to the historic site.

Eventually, the Hills video business took over the space occupied by the used clothing store and it was phased out, but not for long.

Just last week, Karan and Ken opened Second Best, which is housed in the “point” office of the Central Building. The new shop offers used brand name clothing, baby items and equipment and kitchen and house wares. It’s open three days a week, Thurs.-Sat., 9-6.

Horne commended the Hills on their involvement with the local Chamber of Commerce and with the community as a whole.