Chamber of Commerce thriving

Miriam Ostermann, Times Associate Editor
The Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce has found strength in numbers as memberships have doubled, and it has refocused attention on its mission statement and the business community.
This has resulted in prosperity for the chamber – positive reassurance when roughly 1.5 years ago the future of the organization remained uncertain.
By adopting a forward-thinking approach and revamping the organization with new board members, a membership drive, board governance training, awards nights and seminars, and extending their involvement in the community, the chamber has emphasized their mission of promoting businesses in Strathmore to facilitate their growth and providing them with the needed tools.
Now, 100 members strong and with a diverse 15 members on the board, the chamber continues to search for ways to increase their size. With this spike in numbers, members sit in on Town of Strathmore council meetings, get involved in Canada 150 projects, take part in judging the Strathmore parade, attend tourism initiatives and provide input regarding the Downtown Revitalization project.
“We needed to get away from things that were all about networking and really focus on the business community, because that’s what a chamber is supposed to do,” said Terri Kinsman, Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce president.
“We’re working really hard on our communication – being present at the town council meetings – so we’ve been asked to sit on a lot of other committees and invited to participate in a lot of other discussions because of that. So we’re more involved in the community than in the past.”
Having added five new board members with varying skill sets, the chamber is thrilled about the possibilities of getting more involved with the business community and expanding their reach with agriculture and Wheatland County in mind.
The organization’s effort wasn’t left unnoticed by the town earlier this year, when the local council deferred payments on a loan acquired previously, by a year. Subsequently the chamber was left with some working capital to be invested back into the business community, providing a much-needed buffer.
“As a result of having this additional cash flow, we are able to seriously consider introducing some very dynamic programs and work with some provincial as well as community partners for the benefit of small and medium sized businesses here in Strathmore,” said Wanda Reinholdt, Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce vice-president.
“It’s exciting to be a part of this dynamic team and we have some very interesting plans brewing. Discussions are just beginning and it’s too soon to give you all of the details, but we feel – if successful – that these programs would provide valuable and meaningful information that is not readily available to most small and medium sized businesses in our area.”
The HR in a Box government initiative is among the resources the chamber is looking at providing, according to Kinsman. It is a source of ready-to-go human resource tools and information such as templates, information and forms.
The chamber will also focus on tourism in the future and is involved in forming a destination marketing organization.
”The board is in tremendous shape now, it’s probably in the best shape it’s been in all the years I’ve been mixed up in it,” said Rocky Blokland, Town of Strathmore councillor. “It’s quite the broad range of business people and maybe some non-business people. I think we’re headed in the right direction.”