APRIL 2006 NEWSLETTER
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New Member Orientation
Thursday April 6th. Immediately After Monthly Meeting.
Mt. Airy Fire Hall, Watersville Rd. (Meeting at 8am, Orientation at 9.15am)

Business Card Exchange
Tuesday April 25th, 4pm - 7pm
Mealey's Restaurant - 8 Main St, New Market.

2006 Business Fair
Saturday April 29th. 10am  4pm
Fireman's Activity Grounds, Twin Arch Road

APRIL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Our monthly membership meeting will be held on Thursday April 6th at 8am at the Mt Airy Fire Hall (corner of Watersville Rd and Main St, park at the rear/lower level and enter through the back doors).
This month, those attending will be encouraged to introduce themselves at the start of the meeting with a quick, two-sentence intro and tagline. (Tell folks who you are and what you do!)
As well as committee reports, news of upcoming business card exchanges and the Business Fair, there will also be discussion and voting on procedures, and on the Chamber's new folder project.

NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION - APRIL
Immediately following the 8am Chamber meeting, a new member orientation will be held in the back area of the meeting room.
The Ambassador Committee will provide donuts and juice. Although this is billed as a New Member Orientation, this meeting is open to all members of the Chamber, and will be an opportunity to meet our officers and committee chairs and learn about their roles within the Chamber. Meeting starts at 9:15am. [Ambassador Committee Chair Ellie Bonde, Blossom & Basket Boutique].

PHOTO CALL!
Immediately following the April New Member Orientation we will have a photo call for all new members who joined at the November Membership Drive and since  plus our current Chamber officers.

BUSINESS CARD EXCHANGE - TUESDAY MARCH 28TH
Our next Business Card Exchange will be held April 25 from 4-7pm hosted by Mealey's Restaurant of New Market. This card exchange will be co-hosted by Rogers Engraving + Stamps and Rouchard Lawnscapes.
We are also looking for businesses to provide door prizes which will be drawn during the card exchange. Door prizes can be a gift certificate to a local business or maybe something to promote your business like a T-shirt with your business name on it.
[Social Committee Chairs: Ray Miller, Re/Max Realty & Leslie Brenneman, Costco]

CANDIDATE FORUM
The Greater Mt Airy Chamber of Commerce and the Mount Airy Gazette are sponsoring the Mount Airy Candidate Forum, Tuesday, April 18th, 2006. 7:00pm - 9:30pm at Parr's Ridge Elementary School Cafeteria, Watersville Road, Mount Airy.
The Forum will feature candidates for Mount Airy Mayor and Town Council.
Questions for the candidates are being solicited and may be sent to Carol Blackburn, cblackburn@gazette.net, or mailed to Carol Blackburn, 218 S. Main Street, Mount Airy, MD 21771.

BUSINESS FAIR 2006
We are actively looking for volunteers to help with setting up and running the 2006 Business Fair. It's a great way to get involved and meet other Chamber members!
Please put the date in your calendars and come along with family and friends  and don't forget that Costco has donated a Stainless Steel Grill worth $1,500 as a grand door prize!
We are hoping to raise as much as $5,000 for MAYAA (The Mt Airy Youth Athletic Assoc) to help with their field usage fees. For every dollar collected at the Fair, we will donate another dollar  up to a total amount of $2,500!
For more information, please contact Archie Rogers of Rogers Engraving + Stamps at (301) 663-4311.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT
The following 19 businesses joined the Chamber in March.
Adventure Park USA, Larry Stottlemyer, 301-865-6800
April Day Studio, Gail Holliday, 410-781-7334
Arbonne International, Ann Winklbauer, 240-876-1304
R.B. Burroughs Backhoe & Excavating, Inc. Randy Burroughs, 301-703-4280
Cartridge World, Tracey Rouchard, 410-848-9185
Daps, Incorporated, Russell Mullinix, 301-829-4733
Events Made Simple, Filomena Thompson, 301-758-4617
Family Heritage Work Force, Roberta Reardon, 240-367-2474
Floral Flare, Anna C. Hattauer, 240-674-5595
The Greene Turtle, Andy Gorman, 301-829-5200
Interstate Construction & Development Co., Alice Decker, 410-861-9250
It's Got to Be GreenLawn Scapes, William J. Fries IV, 301-807-7862
The Job Shop Printing, Marsha Carmack, 301-662-7441
The Links at Challedon, Greg Howard, 301-829-3000
Mt. Airy Children's Dental Associates, David Hasson, DMD.PA, 301-829-6588
Retro-Metro,  Sherri Johnson, 301-831-0310
Michael Rowe, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, 443-690-8753
Savage Dance Company, Inc. Gregory Savage, 410-552-9194
The Vintage Coffee House, Michelle Caballero, 301-829-7722
Membership is currently 269 members.
 [Membership Chair and Member Emeritus Audrey Stapf].

PHONE BOOK PROMOTION
Thanks to all the members who participated in the Phone Book / New Member Promotion during the month of February. We made the drawing at our March meeting.
Jim and Jerry Davis of Stadium Zone won the first $500 phone book ad, and Ellie Bonde of Blossom and Basket Boutique won the second $500 phone book ad.
Keir Knight, of Plain English Writing & Design, won the $100 for bringing in the most members. Keir chose to give the $100 to the Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge fund. We thank all of you for your participation and a great congratulations to our winners. [Audrey Stapf]

CARD EXCHANGE REPORT
A Business Card Exchange was held at the Stauffer Funeral Home on March 28. Our hosts were Douglas, George and Courtney Stauffer and D.J. Fenton. Co-sponsors were Blossom and Basket Boutique - Ellie Bonde; Knittin Chicks - Delia Schulman; Mt. Airy Sports Supply - Kathy Brossart; and Ray Miller, ReMax Realty.
More than 70 people enjoyed the delicious refreshments and meeting other chamber members.  Several business set up displays at this event and door prizes were given by Mt. Airy Sports Supply, Weekenders, Arbonne, Knittin Chicks, New York J & P Pizza, the Blossom and Basket Boutique, Lorien, Costco, Bezalel Designs, Byrdcall Studios and the Firehouse Pottery Co.
We had nine guests in attendance, including two members of the newly formed Greater Brunswick Chamber.
Many thanks to Ellie Bonde, D. J. Fenton and all who made a special effort to make this Business Card Exchange a big success. [Audrey Stapf]

SPEED NETWORKING
Our first speed networking event will be held on May 9, 2006 7:30am - 9:30am. The event will be run a little different than any other exchange we have had. Adventure Park USA will be hosting the event, Costco Wholesale will be providing breakfast and Jeannie Bussard will be running the exchange.
Please RSVP to  Leslie Brenneman at w330mbr@costco.com or (301) 644-1483.
Here's how it works.....Everyone will be assigned a table upon arrival, each table will consist of 5-8 members, once we are all seated you will be given 1 min each to talk about your business, then everyone will get up and move to new tables with different members and do the same thing over again. This will happen 3-5 different times depending on time constraints. So work on your elevator speech for this event, you will need it! If you would like to enjoy breakfast and mingle before-hand please arrive 15 min early. We would like to start at 7:30am. [Leslie Brenneman]

SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
This newly formed committee will be meeting after the April membership meeting at the Fire Hall.
For more information, please contact Tim Slane, Tim's Lawn & Landscape at 301-829-2707.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR
Our next seminar - 'Guerilla Marketing' for Small Businesses will be held on Tuesday, May 16, 2006, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Mount Airy Senior Center, 703 Ridgeville Avenue (above the Library).
The workshop is FREE to Chamber members.
To register, please (410) 386-8012 or email mtitus@carrollcc.edu.
[Professional Development Committee chair, Marlene Titus, Carroll Community College]

E-MAIL LIST
All Chamber members are added to the Yahoo Groups list  mtairybusiness  but anyone wishing to receive just special announcements can contact Keir Knight of Plain English Writing & Design at (301) 829-1982 or klknight @pipeline.com
Use of the Yahoo list is open to all Chamber members. We ask that messages follow the Chamber's mission 'to promote and support local businesses'  general announcements, events and advertising opportunities are all legitimate uses. Direct advertising of an individual business is not.

See You At The Fair!
Saturday April 29th. 10am  4pm
Fireman's Activity Grounds,
Twin Arch Road