A messAge from
the Chamber of CommerCe
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from within and outside our ranks. our speakers share vital knowledge about current business and community trends, from learning the best way to insure self, family and work, to hearing from the newly formed freeport Police Community Affairs Division. The Chamber supported the Community Affairs Division’s first major event last summer, “Bridging the gap,” at Bishop frank o. White Park. Chamber members supplied lunch and personally barbecued burgers and corn on the cob for the many citizens who came. We look forward to continued coordination between the Chamber and the freeport Police Department. every major village occasion gets Chamber presence. We help electrify the holiday trees, menorah, and Kwanzaa kinarah in early December. We’re there for the June and october village festivals. We attend new business openings — five in the last 12 months — and help with the logistics of village commemorations such as our yearly 9/11 ceremony. We value every member of the freeport Chamber of Commerce. We thank our mayor, robert Kennedy, for championing our work. We know that 2022 will continue to be a powerful year for us all.
n 2021-2022, our freeport Chamber of Commerce has seen not only a rebound of our long-standing local businesses, but the openings of new ones, two 50th anniversaries, and a comeback story that defies all expectations. The Imperial Diner on merrick road and sam’s shoe service on Atlantic Avenue, each cut the red ribbon to observe their golden anniversaries this spring. meanwhile, at the juncture of Atlantic Avenue and south main street, the family enterprise 99¢ and Up empire was devastated by a car crash in early march 2021. eight months later, on Jan. 5, 2022, the red ribbon was cut to celebrate its new lease on life, and it is still going strong. our business community benefited tremendously from the reopening authorized in mid-June 2021 by the New York state government. our businesses began inviting customers back into their buildings, at first with the precaution of masks and social distancing, but now shedding those precautions as state mandates have allowed. of great importance to the Chamber has been its outreach toward businesses in northern freeport, above sunrise Highway, unifying our village’s northern and southern sectors. We reflect freeport’s rich diversity by encouraging membership from Asian, Hispanic and Black-owned enterprises throughout the village’s business zones. We have resumed in-person Chamber luncheons, supporting a freeport dining establishment every month by meeting there, and giving to all our members the benefit of speakers LIVING IN FREEPORT - 2022-2023
reine Bethany/Herald
Above photo: Officer Donnetta Cumberbatch and Detective Shawn Randall of the Freeport Police Community Affairs Division received citations of appreciation from the Freeport Chamber of Commerce. From left, Chamber of Commerce President Ben Jackson, Chamber First Vice President Greg Ingino, Cumberbatch, Randall, and Chamber Second Vice President Ken Dookram.
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