Chamber Times www.chamberinaction.com March 2015
21st Annual Chili Cook-Off & Outhouse Race February 28, 2015
Thank you to our wonderful Sponsors ! Chili Sponsor Homestead Hospital
And the Winners Are….. Chili Winners Overall Theme & Presentation Royal Palm Realty Professional Category Most Edible Hot 1st Place – Homestead Hospital 2nd Place - Stick & Stein Sports Rock Café Tastiest 1st Place - Homestead Hospital 2nd Place - Stick & Stein Sports Rock Café Amateur Category Tastiest 1st Place - The Keyes Company Realtors 2nd Place - Royal Palm Realty Most Edible Hot 1st Place – Homestead Miami Speedway – Tony’s Turbo 2nd Place – Community Bank of Florida Most Unusual 1st Place - 482nd FW – Homestead Air Reserve Base 2nd Place - Homestead Miami Speedway Wimpiest 1st Place – SOCSOUTH – FRG 2nd Place—Salvation Army Outhouse Race Winners 1st Place – Community Bank of Florida 2nd Place – Homestead Hospital Outhouse Theme & Presentation Winners Salvation Army
We would like to especially thank all the volunteers, Chili Cook Teams and Outhouse Racers for your contribution towards this community event.
Volume 26 Issue 3
Jalapeno Sponsors: D.R. Horton Homestead Homestead-Miami Speedway Tabasco Sponsors: 1 National Bank of South Florida Charlie Hudson Community Bank Dade County Farm Bureau Keyes Real Estate Mortgage & Title Marcus & Marcus, PA Stick & Stein Sports Rock Café st
More photos on FACEBOOK!
March Meetings & Events March 9, 2015 - Governmental Affairs Committee Meeting - 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm @ Chamber Office 455 North Flagler Avenue, Homestead, FL RSVP - wbrown@chamberinaction.com
March 9, 2015- Homestead Center for the Arts Bea Peskoe
Lunchtime Lecture series will feature Elam Stoltzfus at noon in Room D112 in the Library Building of Miami Dade College, Homestead Campus at 500 College Terrace, Homestead. A simple lunch will be available for $10 beginning at 11:30 am by reservation only. Call Barbara at 305-230-9185 before 2:00 pm on Friday March 6.
March 12, 2015 - Networking Breakfast
8 am - 9 am @ Longhorn Steakhouse 2531 NE 8 Street Homestead, Florida Please register by Tuesday - January 6, 2015 Click here to register
March 12, 2015 - Military Affairs Committee (MAC) Luncheon -
11:30 am to 1:00 pm @ HARB. If you plan to attend the luncheon, and you do not have a gate pass please RSVP by Monday, March 9th to ron.m4041@gmail.com your name will be on a list, so you can get on the base. March 14, 2015 - Woman's Club of Homestead Fashion Show & Luncheon Presenting Local "Women of the Year" & Shirley's Fashions @ Woman's Club of Homestead 17905 SW 292 Street, Homestead, FL 33030 11:00 am to 1:00 p.m. Tickets: $40.00 p/p Call: 305-342-3497 or email: bobmeda@aol.com or Call Darlene at 305-230-1780 for more information and tickets.
March 22, 2015 • 2:30 p.m. The Legends of Motown Starring Horizon—Homestead Community Concerts @ South Dade Senior High School Auditorium, 28401 S.W. 167th Avenue, Homestead, Florida. Click here for tickets: http://www.homesteadconcerts.com/motown2.htm March 23, 2015 - Membership Committee Meeting 5pm6pm at the Chamber Office 455 North Flagler Avenue, Homestead FL - RSVP - wbrown@chamberinaction.com Sunday, March 22, 2015, 6th Annual BiscayneEverglades Greenway Bike Festival. The ride kicks off at 9:00 am with an option to complete an 11-mile loop to Biscayne National Park and back to the Speedway or a 42mile loop through Everglades and Biscayne National Parks and back to the Speedway. The trail, known as the Biscayne-Everglades Greenway, is a small portion of a larger 42-mile loop that intends to connect both Biscayne National and Everglades National Parks offering points of interests along the way. Contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 305-224-4570 ACarrandi@cityofhomestead.com
Register for chamber meetings & events on line at www.chamberinaction.com
March 14, 2015 - Main Street Mardi Gras Parade and Crawfish Boil 4:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Downtown Homestead Historic District, and Loner Park at 104 N. Krome Avenue, Homestead, FL 33030 Attendance at this event is FREE to the public. Contact: ycknowles@aol.com for event information kathrynfred@hotmail.com for parade information.
Community Events Are you involved in a group that puts on community events? Did you know that you can enter your community event on the Chamber’s event calendar, for free? All events that are open to the community can be entered on the Chamber’s website. These can be as simple as a fundraiser car wash for your kid’s sports team. Go to the Chamber’s Calendar of Events. In the blue menu bar click on Events/Submit Community News & Events. Fill out the Event Listing Request Form - Public Submission form and click on submit for approval.
March 19, 2015 - General Membership Luncheon 11:30 am - 1:00 PM @ Woman's Club of Homestead, GFWC 17905 SW 292 Street Homestead, FL 33030 Speaker: Bill Avery, Deputy Director, Air Operations, Miami Air and Marine Branch, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Air and Marine. Click here to register.
Business events can only be submitted by Chamber members. Please share this information with any groups or organizations that you are part of. www.chamberinaction.com to submit your event
Take a look at What's Happening in the Month of March 2015! Www.chamberinaction.com/eventscalendar
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February Military Affairs Committee Meet & Greet The Military Affairs Committee Meet & Greet honoring the 50th RSG was held at the Homestead Air Reserve Base Community Activity Center February 6, 2015. The event was sponsored by: Florida City Centre and Vitas - Innovative Hospice Care. A great turnout resulted in a great crowd of Military and community leaders, socializing and networking. We welcomed new people as well as greeted old friends. The delicious food was in abundance and the military enjoyed $1.00 beers. Many of the attendees wore red in honor of our troops. Members of the Golden Knights were photographed with City of Homestead’s Councilwoman Patricia Fairclough and Mayor Jeff Porter.
THANK YOU FOR 1st State Insurance Anthony Gorman ARC of South Florida, The Atala Montessori School & Foundation BWI Companies Inc. Centro Campesino Farmworker Center, Inc. Compass Self Storage Complete Energy Solutions, LLC Coopertown Airboat Rides & Restaurant Corradino Group, The Dade County Farm Bureau Dade Medical College Donna Lee Studio of Dance First United Methodist Christian School Floridian Hotel Galactic Technology Group Harriet Devine
REINVESTING February 2015
Hilton Key Largo Resort Spaulding Associates, Inc. Homestead Transfer & State Farm Insurance – Storage Co. T. George Meroni Horizon Divers Sunshine Title of Leif Gunderson Homestead Lewis Electric T.R. Jones & Company Maas, John P. Attorney at Transamerica Life Insurance Law Agent Overholt Construction Corp. Pioneer Museum, Florida Royal Palm Real Estate Services Schnebly Redland's Winery, Inc. Support your chamber members! So. FL Infectious Disease & Tropical Medicine Buy local, stop in and say hello. Pick up someSoroptimist Int'l of thing that brings a smile. Your purchases are Homestead what keeps those business around! South Dade Expressions Members are the greatest asset of the Chamber. Dance Co. Please support the businesses listed on this page because they support and believe in our community. Southland Mall
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February 2015 Events
Business Builder Networking Breakfast– February 12, 2015 @ The Big Cheese Restaurant of Homestead February 13, 2015—Business After Hours at Stick & Stein Sports Bar Restaurant
January Business Builder Networking Breakfast– February 12, 2015 @ The Big Cheese Restaurant of Homestead
21st Annual Chili Cook-Off & Outhouse Race February 28, 2015 February 26, General Membership Lunch @The Capri Restaurant
Thank you Volunteers!
General Membership Luncheon– Jan 22, 2015 @ Woman's Club of Homestead,
GFWC
New Member Benefits , the efficient way to process Certificates of Origin, saves you time and money. Mailing or sending couriers to get your Certificates of Origin stamped is both inefficient and costly. That is why we have adopted the next generation eCert technology as our standard to process your Certificates of Origin. With eCert, Exporters and Freight Forwarders now have a seamless and streamlined electronic solution providing real value in cost savings and efficiency gains. So eliminate your paper-based processing of Certificates and start saving time and money today! With eCert you will: Eliminate courier costs, Reduce administration costs
Reduce errors Improve turnaround time Receive prompt notification of acceptance or rejection Contact the chamber for additional information at 305-247-2332
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South Dade Chamber of Commerce is proud to offer you and your family/friends a FREE DISCOUNT DRUG CARD. Simply print the free card below and receive savings of up to 75 percent at over 56,000 pharmacies across the country. This card is especially helpful if you are uninsured or underinsured. However, even if you have insurance, you can still use this card to get a discount on non-covered drugs. All prescriptions processed through the program are completely confidential (no name required on card)! This program also includes discounts on Eyeglasses, Hearing, Diabetic Supplies and more. Click here to download your card.
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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ENROLLEMENT FORM FAX TO THE CHAMBER AT 305-24-9101
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Upcoming Community Events
The countdown is on. EMERGE AMERICAS IS BACK IN MIAMI MAY 1 - 5, 2015 Just five months ago, we were wrapping up our inaugural eMerge Americas, beaming over an amazing turnout—6,000 attendees! Now building on that momentum, plans are in the making with a stellar lineup of speakers and events. Join the movement and stay connected to us on our social channels, as more exciting announcements are sure to follow. www.emergeamericas.org 9
The South Dade Chamber of
HJCC Celebrates Job Corps' 50th
“VIP TripleisPlay Tour” Guests of Honor Commerce thrilled to introduce
Anniversary
Save Local Now, our newest chamber benefit! Save Local Now is a one-stop digital marketing platform with 9 insanely easy-to-use products to help you connect with your customers. The platform includes Deal and Event publishing, Email Marketing, iPhone and Android apps, SEO and tons more. Even better, Save Local Now is FREE with your Chamber membership!
Take advantage of $LN’s FREE 1-on-1 sessions with its digital marketing experts! The personalized webinars will focus on your business needs and will help you with everything from image suggestions to ideas for creative campaigns. And yes it’s all FREE!
Schedule a 1-on-1 session today at http://blog.savelocalnow.com/training/
2014-2015 Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Executive Board:
Chairman’s Appointees Term Expires 2015
Chairman: Renee Reichling, Community Bank
Joseph Marcus, Marcus & Marcus, PA
Chair Elect: George Mirabal , Clearent
Nitun Patel, Owner, Best Western Florida City Homestead
Immediate Past Chairman: Bill Duquette, Homestead Hospital
Sandy Sosa-Guerrero, CEO of Larkin Hospital
Treasurer: James Pierce, Lopez, Levi & Associates Operations: Corey Gold, Homestead Hospital
Members by Virtue of Office
Government Affairs: Sharon P Haxton, Chapman Partnership Trustees/Chairman’s Circle: Tony Garcia, Keyes Real Estate Mort-
City of Florida City Mayor or Designee
gage & Title
City of Homestead Mayor or Designee
Chair Economic Development: Michael Kiley, FPL/Turkey Point
Homestead Air Reserve Base Commander
President: Rosa I Brito
Special Operations Command South Commander Miami Dade County Public Schools Local Region Dade County Farm Bureau
Directors
Tropical Everglades Visitors Association
Brad Bettelli, Vice President, TD Bank
Homestead Main Street
Charlie Hudson, Charlie Hudson Writes Dale Machesic, Publisher, South Dade News Leader Felecia Vescera, Marketing Director, Florida City Centre
Active Past Chairs
Kametra Driver, Executive Director, WeCare of South Dade, Inc. Larry Roth, Realtor Associate, Keyes Real Estate Mortgage & Title
David Peyton, President & CEO, 1st National Bank of South Florida
Richard Erschik, JustAskRich.com
Robert Jensen, VP Community Relations, 1st Nat’l Bank of So. Florida
Roxanne Jeghers, Owner, Royal Palm Real Estate Services
Susan E. Newman, Realtor Associate, Keyes Real Estate Mortgage & Title
Sharon Wilson, Chief Residential Officer, Community Bank of Florida Susana Vela, Program Director, Miami Dade College Homestead Tony Fiore, Cruising Unlimited - Intelmar USA Inc.
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Making the Chamber of Commerce Work For You
On-Line Business Directory Members can log into their on-line listing and edit/update their information, add employees or representatives. Choose what information you would like to display, Add a 200 character description, hours of operation, driving direction, keywords for better search placement. Add Hot Deals, list Job Postings and much more. See who's taken advantage of the Hot Deals Page on our website: http://business.chamberinaction.com/hotdeals Contact the chamber office for login information 305-247-2332 or email info@chamberinaction.com Enhanced Directory Listing: Members can upgrade their on-line listing. DIRECTORY LOGO: Your logo next to your listing in the Business Directory or any search result. WEBSITE LINK: Your Website Link next to your listing in the Business Directory or any search result. ENHANCED LISTING & PRIORITY PLACEMENT: Priority Placement *Enhance your Information Page: - 1600 character description - eight photos - five bullet points - logo - map link - 20 keywords. For more information about this and other marketing packages available call the chamber at 305-247-2332 or email info@chamberinaction.com Visitor Information Center - Business Information: Come by the Chamber office and drop off information about your business, brochures and business cards or coupons if you have them. Every month, tourists as well as locals visit the Chamber it's a great way to gain exposure for your business. (Brochures should be rack card type or Trifold). Coupon Packs: The Chamber Visitor Center is distributing coupons to area visitors and new residents. A GREAT way to reach tourists and locals that come thru our office and get them into your business... Bring us your coupons! Value or Discount Coupons should be no larger than 4x9 and supply us with at least 50. Coupons can be for discounted items or buy one get one type deals. Questions call Wanda Brown at 305-247-2332
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Saving Money on the Things Your Business Needs To enhance our ability to serve our members with increased benefits we are one of many local chambers throughout Florida who have partnered with the Florida Chamber. As a member of a participating Chamber of Commerce, you have the power of more than 137,000 members and 3 million employees working together. Using the influence of the entire business community, we get you and your business savings and discounts on services that matter to you. We invite you to review our benefits and then do what thousands of other growing businesses have done – take advantage of the time and money you will save by using Chamber endorsed services. As you’ll soon discover, we’re much more than Florida’s best business advocate – helping you and your bottom line is what we do best. To sign up for chamber perks follow the link: http://www.chamberinaction.com/pages/ MemberBenefits4/
The Homestead Florida City Chamber Health Savings Card This card includes programs that offer discounts on prescriptions, vision, hearing, diabetic supplies, and much more.
Trustees of the Chamber The Chamber Trustees are leaders in our community who recognize that their business success and failure is tied to the area around them. In taking a leadership position, the Trustees are insuring their future success by reinvesting in the local business community through the Greater Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber Trustees voluntarily contribute more than required because they believe in the important programs of the Greater Homestead/Florida City Chamber of Commerce. They understand that the prominence of their organization makes it appropriate for them to assume the role of a substantial participant and contributor to the Chamber’s operation. Members like this refuse to let the burden of improving the business climate and our local quality of life fall on others. Trustee contributions make it possible to maintain the Chamber’s day to day operations with an efficient and professional staff who, in turn, bring more and better programs to the business community.
Office Depot Chamber Program FREE exclusively for all members! Take advantage of significant savings of up to 60% off a list of 195 most commonly purchased items. Most other items are discounted at least 5% over
everyday low web price. Free next business day delivery on qualifying orders of $50 or more. Sign up today to start saving. Call the chamber at 305-247-2332 or email wbrown@chamberinaction.com
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Advertise with Your Chamber Times! Your Chamber Times e-newsletter advertising rates are nearly half the price of printed newsletter advertising. The Chamber Times is a monthly e-publication that features Chamber events, economic development issues and community activities. It is emailed as a link to over 500 businesses, individuals, and public officials and appears on the Chamber’s website, www.chamberinaction.com. The site averages 117,000 hits per month.
Chamber Times Ad Rates Type Full Page Half Page ¼ Page Business Card
Size 8 ½ x 11 8½x5 3½x5 3½x2
1 Time $175 $100 $65 $50
6 Months $125 mo. $85 mo. $40 mo. $35 mo.
Some Helpful Websites Homestead/Florida City Chamber Small Business Administration City of Homestead City of Florida City Miami Dade County Public Schools Small Business Development Center Miami-Dade County Non-Partisan Elections Site SCORE Counselors to Small Business State of Florida Information Tropical Everglades Visitors Center
455 N. Flagler Avenue Homestead T. 305-247-2332 F. 305-224-9101 Toll Free 888-352-4891 Mail to: P.O. Box 901544 Homestead, FL 33090
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www.chamberinaction.com www.business.gov www.cityofhomestead.com www.floridacityfl.us www.dadeschools.net www.floridasbdc.org www.miamidade.gov www.voteforflorida.org www.score.org www.myflorida.com www.tropicaleverglades.com