Edmonds Kind Of Heroes Come To The Rescue Of The Chamber

Edmonds WA

18 November, 2020

3:09 AM

Description

Press release from the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce: November 16, 2020 Covid-19 forced the Chamber to cancel almost every cherished community event in Edmonds including our 4th of July parade and fireworks, Halloween, Car Show, Taste Edmonds and most recently our annual Tree Lighting event. Without your help these events might have disappeared, forever. And, without your help, after 113 years, so might have the Chamber. We asked you to be "An Edmonds Kind of Hero" and help raise $100,000. Not only did you help us meet this goal, you helped us exceed it by donating $107,700. More than 609 individual donations were made, ranging from $2 to $10,000. We also want to thank the volunteer Chamber Board for personally contributing one-third of this number as well as the Mayor and City Council for providing some much-needed rent relief. The Chamber had a yearly operating budget of $275,000 which included a small staff of three to advance the work of the Chamber through events and direct support to businesses throughout downtown, the waterfront, along Highway 99, Westgate, Five Corners, Perrinville, and Firdale Village. The staff has been reduced to one person and is currently projected to remain that way through most of 2021, unless things change with Covid-19 restrictions. We don't know what the future holds for the impacts of Covid-19. But we do know that because of you, we will have a Chamber of Commerce in Edmonds in 2021. The group of individuals who signed this letter came together as volunteers. Some of us were not members of the Chamber. Many of us did not know each other. We came together because we each felt strongly about the Chamber's role in our community. To each of you who joined us through your donations, we say a heartfelt thank you. Thank you to our Edmonds Kind of Heroes! You didn't just make a donation; you made a difference. We look forward to once again joining you along with the 87,000 people who historically come together for our annual Chamber events. Edmonds Chamber Task Force Members: Brian Baird, US Congress (retired) Will Chen, Will Chen CPA, PLLC Patrick Doherty, City of Edmonds Nancy Ekrem, DME CPA Group PC Kelsey Foster, Click Studios Group Joe McIalwain, Edmonds Center for the Arts Maria Montalvo, Corvias Foundation Mike Rosen, PRR (Retired) Marilla Sargent, HomeStreet Bank Rick Steves, Rick Steves' Europe Greg Urban, Edmonds Chamber of Commerce Carl Zapora, Zapora Consulting, LLC To support the Edmonds Chamber consider joining as a member or donating to the www.SupportEdmonds.com campaign. This press release was produced by the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed are the author's own.