A few years ago, the Greater Vidalia® Chamber instituted a new program that helps members market their business and align their brand at events and programs that are hosted by the Greater Vidalia® Chamber. REACH allows businesses to see a full catalog of next year’s initiatives and events so that businesses can see all options at one time and choose what offerings coincide with their mission and where their marketing dollars would be most valuable. The REACH program also has a professional development component where volunteers work with their business contacts for 6 weeks to make sure that all businesses have the opportunity to market their business with the Chamber in the following year. On Thursday, November 3rd, a celebration was held at the Chamber for the volunteers who superseded the goal of $200,000 originally set and the final total was of $233,000.
Matt Hasbrouck chaired the committee, and was so excited about the income, he literally danced a happy dance as he promised in the beginning.
“What are we selling here,” he asked rhetorically. “We’re selling the community; we’re selling economic development; we’re selling ourselves and for what we stand for. You guys went out there and you sold it!”
John Koon is the Chair of the Board of the Chamber, said, “We used to depend on $40,000 – $60,000 a year to be able to run the Chamber and the events and that’s why we didn’t have a lot of events. Now you see that change. Because of REACH this helps us give back to the community, the membership and have the great events we put on yet keep the cost down. It’s a good way for me to complete my term, and it will give Mike Hagan, the incoming Chair, a great budget to work with next year and do even more things.”
