that goal with flying colors,” said Chamber CEO Faustine Curry. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the volunteers that gave their heart and soul for the Chamber.” The Chamber celebrated Curry said those volunanother successful Total Resource teers, in turn, support the chamber Campaign at a victory party in and make the chamber a better March. Steve Capps, the chair of resource for businesses. the second annual campaign, “I’m just overwhelmed thanked the teams who fanned out with how generous people are and across the Mount Pleasant busihow much support Mount Pleasant ness community over the past gives to the business community,” month in an effort to raise support she said. for chamber programs for another The TRC Campaign year. teams were led by Shannon Nor“Unity makes us stronger together,” he told the crowd at 80 Acres that represented the five teams and more than 30 volunteers who solicited sponsorships, membership renewals and new chamber members since the campaign kicked off Feb. 6. “It’s a neat town where a lot of volunteers join together to accomplish common goals,” he said. “Having that kind of unity is sometimes pretty rare.” Capps’ job as campaign chair was to motivate the teams to strive for even greater success than the campaign’s inaugural year. He told them during the cam- fleet of Titus Regional Medical paign to not just be thermometers, Center, who is the current Chairbut to be thermostats; to change man of the Chamber; Brad Lowry the temperature in a room with of Pilgrim Bank, Jey Yancey of positivity and a vision for Mount Offenhauser Insurance, Troy Pleasant. “We want to be atmosSellers of Luminant and Danny phere changers,” he said. Muskrat of Guaranty Bank & Trust. The campaign surpassed The highest producing its goal of $130,000 on the last day team was Sellers’ team, followed of the campaign. The teams also by Muskrat’s team, Lowry’s team, generated 30 new chamber mem- Yancey’s team and Norfleet’s bers, while boasting a nearly 90 team. Kim Crabb of Diamond C percent retention rate among its Trailers claimed first place as top 2013 membership. Among those, individual producer. Jey Yancey most either chose to stay at the took second place and Kristy same level of sponsorship or do Crooks of Guaranty Bank & Trust additional sponsorships. The 2013 was third. campaign met its goal of $115,000 The heart of the TRC is and generated 86 new members. to support the events, programs, “Steve Capps set the networking and business promogoal and the standard even higher tion that the chamber hosts from this year and the volunteers met March 1 through Feb. 28 of the
next year. It allows the Chamber to map out a complete year of chamber activities and gauge the success of an event through how sought after the sponsorship opportunities are. The most important aspect, Curry said, is that it allows the Chamber to “promote and support the membership more. It gives us lead time for events so we can put greater emphasis on the sponsor and better support our members.” Members choose sponsorships in a wide range of activities such as leadership development series, business workshops or the Shop Local events that are
to start printing copies of every edition to make sure those advertisers are getting the most bang for their buck.” Norfleet said she was thrilled to see how many people from the community came together to make the campaign a success. “It was only five teams, but then you see the outreach that those teams and their members were able to make. They made connections that the Chamber alone could never have made. The TRC Campaign gives us the ability to have that reach and influence and to unite so many people,” Norfleet said. She said the diversity of businesses that were brought into the chamber was also impressive. “It’s not just one or two businesses that always give. Some of the people that came here tonight are from those businesses that haven’t been engaged before and that’s what really gets you excited,” she said. “I think this changes some of their perceptions about what the chamber is about and builds stronger teams and stronger businesses. ‘When you succeed, I succeed and vice versa.’ It helps build that feel good community that designed to raise sales tax reveyou are proud to be a part of.” nue. The Eat Local campaign beA third motivational asgins in April and the Grow Local pect of the campaign that Capps campaign kicks off this summer. encouraged was that we “reap One of the most sought what we sow.” after sponsorships is the Friday “That’s a natural and a Burger Party which runs from April spiritual principal. So, when we through October, held on the first sow into our community, we can Friday of the month. expect it to grow,” he told the vol“Members get to come to unteers Thursday night. “I think the Chamber and network and that’s what makes Mount Pleasant spend time with other members,” such a great town. There’s a lot of Curry said. “We could sell 50 of sowing going on and I think there’s those a year.” a lot of reaping going on.” The Business spotlight and the bi-monthly Mount Pleasant Business Report magazine are other popular sponsorships. “We had an increase in ads in the Business Report this year and we’re excited about that,” Curry said. “This year we are going