Casey Whitmarsh
SFCC Chair |
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A highlight of the year for me as your Chamber Chair is our Back to Business Super STIR & Annual Meeting. This year's event at Paradise Springs Winery was a great evening of socializing, thriving, interacting and reconnecting. Kudos to the Events Committee - Terry Head, Tom Repczynski, and Carla Olivo who facilitated a delicious meal, our annual awards presentation and a fun silent auction.
The Chamber hosts several networking events throughout the year, and we frequently participate in local community events. We could not do any of it without the support of our members in the way of sponsorships. This event was no different. It was my honor to join fellow sponsors Mr. Tom Repczynski of Offit Kurman, Mr. Terry Head of Compass Coaching & Consulting, Mr. Joe English of Burdette, Smith, and Bish, Ms. Melinda Fortunato of Best Travel LLC, Leadership Fairfax represented by their Director of Development Ms. Kim Stewart, Dave and Beth Kyle of Trademasters Services, the South County Colts Youth Sports represented by Ms. Nancy Feldbauer, Ms. Nikkia Bivens of ENJ Diagnostics and Mr. Brian Gottlieb of BHHS PenFed Realty.
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As a chamber, we have had a busy and productive year as a local influential business advocate committed to empowering our members to succeed. We were honored to attend several major ribbon cutting and grand openings over the last year. Two of the more notable ones were the unveiling of the Potomac Banks branding initiative highlighting tourism in our area and the new Panera Bread in Lorton.
As a Chamber we enjoy supporting both our membership and the greater South Fairfax community. We conducted a very successful Open House and Membership Drive hosted at Trademasters last fall. The event brought together a number of current chamber members with a variety of businesses and potential new members in the local area.
In November, we combined business networking and a good cause, collecting much needed donations for the Boots to Suits program which assists military veterans as they enter the civilian job market.
On the community front we enjoyed hosting a water stop on the Tour de Mount Vernon bike race last fall. In December, we hosted 180 small business owners sponsoring the vendor breakfast at the Lorton Holiday Extravaganza. We also enjoyed meeting close to 3,000 people who attended the event as many stopped by the Chamber’s booth that day. And at the same event we hosted a blood drive for Chamber member Inova. It was such a success that we hosted a second successful drive at the end of April.
Most recently, we hosted our first-ever Commerce Carnival at the Lorton Spring Fling. This was a great chance for our members to engage with the public in a friendly, casual atmosphere. As a Chamber we feel it is important to be a part of the community and by bringing our members and the public together, it was a win-win for everyone. Thank you to Brian Gottlieb of BHHS PenFed Realty, the Emma Jordon Kidz Fighting Cancer Foundation, the Metropolitan School of the Arts, Terry Head of Compass Coaching and Tom Repczynski of Offit Kurman who all helped man the booth and run the games. We got a lot of great feedback from the community and with member support, we look forward to future community involvement as we are always working to help our members to promote their businesses. We are currently looking for members who would like to join our Events Committee and we are seeking to create a new committee to look at ‘the membership experience.’ If you have an interest in any of these areas, please reach out to our Executive Director Carla Olivo at SFCCExecDirector@gmail.com.
Happy Mother's Day to all of our Chamber Members who also wear the title of 'Mom'. Casey Whitmarsh
SFCC Chair Casey@CaseyWhitmarsh.com |
The Metropolitan School of the Arts Co-Executive Directors, Sara Hart and Michelle Collier accepted the Chamber's Member to Watch in 2023 award. The SFCC Business or Non-Profit Member to Watch Award recognizes a member for their innovation, creativity, and excellence in the South Fairfax community.
The South Fairfax Community Service Award recognizes the contributions of a person or organization that in some way improves the South Fairfax community. This year there were two deserving recipients. The Friends of Mason Neck State Park were recognized for their mission to conserve, enhance, and interpret the park's natural, educational, recreational, cultural, and historic resources.
Pipi Harrison, the Director of Student Services at Bryant Alternative High School was honored for her work with a local teen parenting program and food pantry helping needy students and their families.
Congrats to all!
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We had a great time engaging with the community at our first-ever Commerce Carnival at the Lorton Spring Fling. Despite the overcast skies, we had a nice turnout and some very happy prize winners! Special thanks to Brian Gottlieb of BHHS PenFed Realty, the Emma Jordon Kidz Fighting Cancer Foundation, the Metropolitan School of the Arts, and Tom Repczynski of Offit Kurman who all provided the 'prizes' and helped to man the booth. This was a unique opportunity to meet potential customers in a casual, fun atmosphere! Thank you for having us Lorton Spring Fling!
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SFCC Board Member Tom Repczynski with Michelle Collier, Metropolitan School of the Arts & Supervisor Dan Storck |
Commerce Carnival attendees enjoyed playing several games of chance to win!
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Consider a Membership Upgrade! |
Legacy Members - Receive a FREE month of social media marketing across the Chamber's social media platforms! Email SFCCExecDirector@gmail.com for details! Offer expires on May 31, 2023. |
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Social Media is great for promoting content and brand awareness.
It can help you have faster, easier communication with your customers and it can make your brand more relatable. We have a very active social media following! Make sure to follow us and we will follow you back. |
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