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The River Region Chamber of Commerce recently conducted a unique event called “Falling Back into Business”. This was a four-day ribbon-cutting sprint, over the course of three parishes — St. James Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, and St. Charles Parish. The ribbon cutting was a way to celebrate getting back to businesses amidst the halt during COVID-19 and those who worked tirelessly around the clock, such as our local hospital in St. James Parish.

Chamber staff members and a few ambassadors had to hit the highway and travel to many different businesses. Everyone practiced social distancing and kept in mind the guidelines to keep everyone safe. All safety restrictions were followed. Hosted for members, there were 34 businesses that signed up to participate!

“Falling Back Into Business” was a different, yet amazing way to show that many businesses in the three sister parishes are open and ready to serve and welcome all customers, with hopes to even gain some new faces as customers. As a chamber, it is our duty to service our members and their needs, especially with cost effective ways during the pandemic. This was a safe, yet fun event for the staff, ambassadors and all the businesses that took place in the ribbon cuttings.

The River Region Chamber of Commerce has been in full support of all members, and our doors are currently open. As your local chamber, we encourage you to support small businesses and #ShopLocal.

Thank you to all businesses that signed up for the “Falling Back into Business” event.

You can see from the pics (page A7), it was evident that everyone was so appreciative and excited to get a visit from their local Chamber. The visit ran quite quickly. Members were given a time-slot to expect the team, we showed up for a quick pic, ran through instructions of the video and headed to the next stop.

Be sure to “like” us on Facebook and track our visits last week. We may be doing another type of effort soon, so stay tuned!

Ironically, this week, we celebrate “Support your Local Chamber of Commerce” week. Celebrated annually on the third Wednesday in October, this day provides an opportunity to recognize and highlight the organization, professionals and volunteers who work to transform communities. It’s also a great opportunity for us to promote what the Chamber is about, our mission, how you can get it involved and why it’s important for you to do so! How can you help promote your local chamber?

• Help us spread the word by sharing #ChamberStrong to any of your social media posts
• Consider volunteering in some way with your local Chamber
• Encourage a business who is not a member to join
• Attend the next event hosted by your chamber
• Post a photo on your social media on why you support your local chamber using #ChamberStrong
• Make sure your membership is current with your local Chamber

In addition, we host our last Women’s Empowerment Conversation this week. This was a first of its own and ultimately had to go virtual due to COVID. With our first session held in July, there were over 100 participants that signed up to participate. With such momentum built around this experience, you can certainly expect for this to be an annual offering. Sincerest thanks to our committee, staff and Leadership, Chairwoman Aspen Murphy. It was Aspen’s vision, passion and heart that brought this concept to fruition.

The speakers were all dynamic and left a mark of encouragement, inspiration and well, conversation on key issues affecting women leaders today.

Sincerest thanks to our local L’OBSERVATEUR staff for their assistance, participation, and partnership for helping us get the word out to our community on their local Chamber!

The mission of the River Region Chamber of Commerce is to grow, strengthen and unify businesses in the River Region. Since 2004, the Chamber has helped build relationships that impact and improve the quality of life through strong leadership that advocates a pro-business environment in St. Charles, St. James and St. John the Baptist Parishes. It focuses on serving as the voice of River Region businesses, providing business support and value to members and building coalitions. Visit the Chamber online at www.riverregionchamber.org