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Edition 63 l MARCH 2020
INDIAN CREEK PLAZAA YEAR IN REVIEW Pg. 5 WVMC LAUNCHES ROBOTIC SPINE SURGERY Pg. 7 FIRST SIGNS OF SPRING Pg. 10 HAPPY 105TH BIRTHDAY, OKIE Pg. 14 Alex Esparza, 2019 volunteer of the year and Mike Durning, Chairman of the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce Board
2019 Chamber of Commerce Award Luncheon well as the Hallock-Weymann award, which is the highest award from Lions District 39W. He is the most giving volunteering person! The 2019 Non-profit of the Year went to Friends of the Caldwell Library. All six members are volunteers from the Caldwell Community and do not receive compensation for their time. For the past six years the friends of the Caldwell Library have been instrumental in assisting the Library with outreach to the community. Their efforts to promote literacy, education, access to information and community awareness has had a huge impact on those who reside in and around Caldwell. Through fundraising efforts like book sales, bake sales, and other campaigns, they provide supplemental funds allowing the Library to offer opportunities otherwise unavailable. They have been advantageous in seeking and obtaining grants and donations to help fund large scale projects such as family fun day, Dia de los Ninos events, Early Steam Day, Summer Reading, The Human Library, Digitization of Historical materials,
and improved technology. The Friends of the Library sponsor the annual summer reading program in order to help families prevent the “summer slide,” or the decline in reading skills while school is out of session each summer. More than 2,000 Caldwell residents of all ages enroll in the program with participation increasing per annum. 2019 Business of the Year: Best Bath. As they mark 50 years, the Caldwell company is building on their success. Best Bath began in 1969 as Component Structures, Inc., manufacturing ranch products, feed and water troughs for animals and panels for refrigerated train cars. Canyon County’s growth has been good for Best Bath, situated on 10 acres just off Kit Avenue in Caldwell. They currently have 183 full time employees and are in the process of adding a third shift to become a 24/5 operation. The company has customers across the country and into Canada. Sixty percent of the product they ship out of their Caldwell facility is send east of the Mississippi and 15% goes to California,
2019 Business of the Year-Best Bath
photos by Caldwell Chamber
The Chamber of Commerce held their annual awards Noonbreak luncheon on Tuesday, February 14th at the College of Idaho Simplot Dining Hall. The awards luncheon was graciously sponsored by West Valley Medical Center. The recipients of the awards were nominated by the community. Here are the outstanding citizens of Caldwell: The 2019 Volunteer of the year, Alex Esparza. Alex is the first to step up for Caldwell. As club president he was instrumental in working with the city to change the name of Jaycee’s Park to Caldwell Lions Park. He delivers Meals on Wheels every Thursday. He picks up and delivers donated furniture for Love Inc every week. Through the Lions he is heading up a food pantry for Canyon Springs School, and organized holiday meals for needy families associated with Canyon Springs School. He is involved with Love Caldwell and volunteers for their Day of Caring. He has received the Melvin Jones Fellowship, which is the highest award from Lions International, as
by Chantele Hensel, publisher
2019 Non-Profit of the Year-Friends of the Library
mostly due to the concentration in those areas. Best Bath takes pride in retaining and training employees. Many have joined the company through family members who work there.
They have a turnover rate of less than 5% and have grown the number of fulltime employees by 58% since 2014. Continued on page 4