July 2020 Better Together Newsletter

UPCOMING Events

JUly 2020 7.7.20

Sheboygan County Safe Restart - A Virtual Conversation with Sheboygan County Division of Public Health, Virtual 12PM - 1PM

A Letter From the President Hello July!

We are now in the second half of the year.

During the first half, I feel we all demonstrated great versatility and resilience as our world was turned in many cases upside down. The second half of the year looks to be a continuation of change, flexibility, alterations, modifications, and fine-tuning of our work and personal lives.

As COVID-19 continues to be a part of our lives, the Chamber will continue to comply with the Sheboygan County Division of Public Health and CDC recommendations.

7.10.20

Coffee with Coastal YPN Featuring Jason Mengel, Virtual 7:30AM

Martha VandeLeest

I added a little bit of trivia fun for July: 1. What is the birthstone for July? a. Opal b. Ruby c. Sapphire d. Emerald

2. What is the flower for the month of July? a. Morning Glory b. Gardenia c. Larkspur d. Hollyhock

3. Which famous theme park opened on the seventeenth of July? a. Disneyland b. Dollyworld c. MGM d. Marineland

4. On the sixteenth of July, what food should you be eating? a. Watermelon b. Strawberries c. Spinach d. Hotdogs

5. Which famous aviator is recognized 6. Which of these was first issued on July on the twenty-fourth of July? thirty-first? a. Amelia Earhart a. First US patent b. Neil Armstrong b. First US Social insurance number c. Charles Lindbergh c. First US postage stamp d. Buzz Aldrin d. First US coin minted 7. When was Sheboygan officially incorporated? a. 1840 b. 1849 c. 1836 d. 1846

7.14.20

Coastal YPN Welcome and Social (Tentative) 5:30PM

7.15.20

RESCHEDULED: FOCAL POINT with John Donovan of CloverNord Management Consulting 7:30AM

8.7.20

FIRST FRIDAY FORUM: Candidates for the Congressional District #6 and Assembly District #2 11:30AM

Answers (1-b), (2-c), (3-a), (4-c), (5-a), (6-a), (7-d) ROUNDTABLES MEETINGS:

7.8.20 NON-PROFIT ROUNDTABLE 7.9.20 SAFETY ROUNDTABLE

from the desk of the executive director July has arrived and thankfully we’ve had some beautiful summer weather! With warm weather in Sheboygan County, we celebrate our tourism partners and all the work they do to bring new faces to our area, to explore and enjoy all that Sheboygan County has to offer. We are blessed with a beautiful coastline, tons of recreational activities, 5-star accommodations and above par restaurants. This is a great opportunity to not only show off our tourism assets but also to show a warm Wisconsin welcome to our Someplace Better. Greet our newcomers with a smile, tell them why you love it here and direct them to the Chamber office if they need additional ideas, have questions or would like to learn more about how they could make Sheboygan County more than just a once a year vacation.

Deidre Martinez

This July will also look a little different than we are used to. With major events cancelled, we are looking for creative ways to celebrate this Independence Day! Ronald Reagan said in his Farewell Address to the Nation, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” This is a great opportunity to celebrate with your family, enjoy a lovely dinner with your spouse and/or make your kids spend time with you. So although, no parades and street festivals this year, I am still excited to spend this time with those closest to me, throw some meat on the smoker and enjoy a day of celebration.

What are your 4th of July plans?

As we move forward with programming, the Chamber is looking into creative ways to continue programming. For the next couple of weeks, we will continue virtual conversations. We are also hopeful that we can develop a hybrid model to offer both in-person opportunities at limited capacity, in tandem with virtual programming. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

In an effort to educate, we will resume our First Friday Forums in August (limited capacity and advance registration are required) and are pleased to offer a Candidate Forum, featuring candidates from the WI 6th Congressional District and WI 26th Assembly District speak about issues that are important to your business and our community as a whole, ahead of the primary election to be held on Tuesday, August 11th. If you’re interested in joining us, please click here.

Our Sheboygan County Best Under 40 Awards celebration, honoring 29 Young Professionals for the great work they do throughout our County is scheduled for August 19th and we’d love for you to join us. Please register here!

And of course, the largest Golf Outing in the County will be held on September 9th at Town & Country Golf Club.

Foursomes are selling quickly, click here to reserve your spot. *Did you know, the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce has sold more than $236,000 in Chamber Cash during the first 6 months of 2020 compared to $85,000 during the first 6 months of 2019. Have you received some? This is an opportunity to inject almost a quarter of a million dollars into our local economy, especially small businesses. If you got ‘em, get out and spend ‘em!

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News from THE DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT It’s July and Happy Birthday America!

July has always started with a bang in celebration of our country’s birthday, followed by many festivals, farmer’s markets and other gatherings. Well, 2020 has turned out to be the year of “expect the unexpected” so the best advice I have for all of you is to make the most of what you have, do what you can do and never take anything for granted, ever again! It’s all good if we stay positive and enjoy the moment. And speaking of moments…

One of our signature events is coming up on Wednesday, September 9 at Town & Country Golf Course. Yes, you guessed it, our Annual Chamber Golf Outing!

Sponsorships are now available to all members, so please call, email or text me as soon as you can to save a spot!

Scott Kuehn

We only have (2) hole sponsorships left!

We have a good number of golf ball sign sponsorships available, so please let me know ASAP so you can secure one or two. Other sponsorships are available as well, but please reach out to me at scott@sheboygan.org or call me at (920) 395-8705 to review. But don’t wait, reach out today!

We are still looking to reschedule a number of our earlier events and will be in contact with all members involved. As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, the Business After Hours for 2020 is unfortunately sold out, but 2021 is wide open.

We doubled up several months this year, and will do so for 2021, but don’t wait. Give me a call at (920) 395-8705 to schedule your BAH today!

Some things to think about as we move through last three quarters of 2020: If you haven’t joined a Deep Dive yet, there are still openings for all groups. Continue 2020 by engaging with other members of the chamber from various business sectors. Health care, real estate, banking, insurance, painting and staining, attorneys, and many others are represented by exceptional people living in your county. Join a family of Deep Divers today!

Roundtables are a terrific way to meet others within your business sector. Whether it’s Human Resources, Sales & Marketing, Not for Profit, and others, you’re sure to learn something from your peers. These peer-to-peer networking groups can help any one of your employees, or yourself, accelerate your learning curve, and minimize potential setbacks within your organization. Our own John Rogers does an outstanding job keeping each group on task, and always shares his own wealth of knowledge. Contact john@sheboygan.org and join a Roundtable today!

Molly, Coastal YPN Liason Hey there Coastal YPN Nation!

Happy Summer! We are really looking forward to having our events in person and seeing everyone’s smiling faces once again. As we are wrapping up the month of June, we hope you have enjoyed the programming we have provided virtually.

Molly Talaska

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Molly, Coastal YPN Liason (continued) It had a lot of physical activity that was requested by many of our Young Professionals and we could not have done it without those who took the time to share their talents with us. Sonja Anderson from Stretch and Breathe Yoga and Brent Neevel from Fit Body Boot Camp graciously volunteered their time to whip our bodies into shape for the virtual sessions this month.

We cannot thank you enough for volunteering with our group!

We have a few very exciting events planned for July!

On July 10th we will be doing our first Coffee with Coastal of the year! We will be meeting with Jason Mengel, virtually, to hear about the plans for Ryder Cup 2020 and how he was able to get to where he is in his career today. Following Coffee with Coastal, on July 14th (tentative date) we will be doing a Welcome and Social at the Chamber office. We are planning it to be an outdoor event with max participation following the guidelines set in place by the CDC and our local health professionals.

If you know anyone who is looking to join our network, please encourage them to come to our welcome and social as it is revolved around inclusion and all things regarding our Coastal Young Professionals Network.

Another anticipated event that we have coming in August is our Best Under 40 Awards Dinner! Please join us as we celebrate The Sheboygan County Best Under 40 Awards, for an evening of celebration, libations, good food and better company at The Sheboygan Town & Country Club on August 19th, 2020.

The Coastal Young Professional Network brings you the Sheboygan County Best Under 40 Awards Dinner, recognizing the amazing, hardworking and talented young professionals who have made incredible efforts to achieve greatness in leadership, community engagement, professional achievement, and volunteerism in Sheboygan County.

We will be awarding the Entrepreneur of the Year, Young Professional Community Volunteer of the Year, Top Young Professional of the Year and name the Top Ten Sheboygan County Best Under 40.

Register as an individual or purchase a table of 8.

Sponsorships are still available! Please contact Scott Kuehn if you would be interested in being a Platinum, Gold, Reception, Friend or In-Kind Sponsor at scott@sheboygan.org.

As we gear up for a fun-packed July and August with businesses reopening and people gathering again, there are a few things that I would like to ask people to keep in mind. Be patient with one another, we are all going through this hard time together and if we stand together, we are much more likely to come out on top. Be kind to everyone you meet regardless of circumstances, every person is going through different phases and your kindness could go a long way, and lastly remember to make someone smile. Smiles are contagious and with everything that is going on in our world, if you can say you have made someone smile each day, you are creating the positivity that is needed to help change the world; one smile at a time As always Coastal Nation, ~Stay Wavy~

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Workforce Development On June 9th, we kicked off our Better Together Intern and Co-op Program in Sheboygan County.

This is a yearly program that we offer to our business partners to help show the amazing things that Sheboygan County has to offer to those who are interning and co-ops at participating companies. Normally our events are in person and we team up with local businesses to offer specials to those who are participating in our program, but this year due to the pandemic, things look much different.

Every year we start our program with a kickoff party spotlighting local businesses throughout Sheboygan County that would be of interest to the interns and co-ops participating. This year we had to take our program and make it virtual. We created a PowerPoint of some of the top attractions that bring and keep people here in Sheboygan and presented it via Zoom.

Another prominent feature that we have for them is an interactive app called Eventzee. A virtual scavenger hunt would normally take them around Sheboygan County to local businesses that would offer discounts products or items in their store, but since our program has interns and co-ops that are outside of our county, we had to make a few changes. Each week we release new clues that will take us through the community where each intern is currently residing. The clues take them to support their local businesses as well as teach us about historical monuments or fun trials they often take in their community. Other clues teach them about Sheboygan County so they still get the community feel that they would be experiencing if they were here.

We have had a lot of positive feedback from our partners and hope to continue to make this program the best for our interns and co-ops joining us this year. Here are some pictures of some of the activities our interns and co-ops have been engaging in.

chamber member Testimonial “Our Sheboygan Chamber membership has always been a great value. The Focal Points, First Friday Forums, Roundtables and After Hour events have been worth much more than the cost of our membership. During the current Covid-19 pandemic, the Sheboygan County Chamber has been invaluable with information on financial help, government programs and health care in our area. A business cannot afford NOT to have membership in the Sheboygan County Chamber!�

- David Zimmermann, Zimmermann Company

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upcoming events

8.19.20

BEST UNDER 40 AWARDS DINNER 5PM - 8PM

October 16th - 24th, 2020 YPWeek

9.9.20

ANNUAL CHAMBER GOLF OUTING 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM

10.31.20

COMMUNITY & BUSINESS EXPO 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Sheboygan

County Chamber

Newsletter sponsorship opportunities now available!

Please contact Scott Kuehn at 920-918-1315 or scott@sheboygan.org for more information.

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