Review staff
The Bluffton and District Chamber of Commerce was the recipient of 2007 Chamber of the Year award at a ceremony held on Saturday, May 24 at Fort Saskatchewan.
The Bluffton group won the award in the category for Chambers with up to 50 members. Other winners were the Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce for a membership of up to 300; and the Whitecourt and district Chamber of Commerce for memberships between 101 and 300.
“It’s a great award to receive. This means a lot for our community. It’s some recognition to show the hard work that our Chamber has done,” said President Maeghan Menear of the 18-member Bluffton Chamber.
“One of our biggest achievements is the Read and Learn Program which was created by our Chamber and given to the school,” Menear added. “We now provide them with volunteers to come and read to the students at their school. It has to do with literacy and getting the kids to read and getting to know our volunteers and ourselves as well. That’s one of our biggest achievements.”
In making their selection, the provincial arm of the Chamber agreed saying, “Over the past year, Bluffton grew its membership, introduced a speaker series…and developed welcome packages for new residents. Bluffton is particularly proud of a literacy program it introduced to the community that sees public figures visit schools and read to students.”
The provincial Chamber of Commerce also cited Bluffton’s efforts to acquire street signage, bylaw enforcement and efforts to reduce traffic speed at the community’s entrance, as other reasons for their selection as award winners.
‘They’ve been really pleased with the initiative we took in getting involved with our school,” Menear said. “We’ve been working with the County as well as Transportation and Infrastructure on a number of things. One is the speed zone – we’re still working on that but we should receive that very soon. We’re also working with the County on getting Bluffton noticed and getting the community involved as well.”
As for future plans, Menear said they’ve got a few things lined up for this summer including a live charity auction in August at the Bluffton Hall to add some needed revenue to the coffers for future plans. Between now and then however, they’ll be involved in a few other projects.
“The next thing coming up is our Grade 9 farewell where the Chamber will be presenting our scholarship to them,” she said. “As well, we have a sponsorship in the upcoming Rimbey Rodeo, we sponsored them last year and will be doing it again this year.”
After a year and a half at the helm of the Bluffton Chamber, Menear said the recognition was greatly appreciated.
“It’s very satisfying. I’m really pleased with the work that’s been done in the community and hopefully we’ll continue with the good work,” she said. “We’re very happy with the award and it really shows that we’ve been acknowledged for the work that we do here.”