HARRISBURG, Ill. (WSIL) - Thursday was the Saline County Chamber of Commerce 2020 annual banquet.
The celebration was held at Bonan Business Hall where local friends of the community could mix and mingle.
The hall was full of tables topped with swag from local businesses for the annual banquet.
It was a a jam-packed evening full of fun including a silent auction and wine raffle to raise money for the chamber. There was also live music, a photo booth and, of course, plenty of fundraising going toward a great organization.
Some of that money will go to an annual scholarship for a Saline County high schooler headed off to Southeastern Illinois College.
Speaking of awards, they presented the small, medium and large business of the year, and those weren't the only awards being given out.
Incoming Saline County Chamber President Jonathan Russell is looking forward to a new award being offered for one special citizen.
"I'm really excited about Citizen of the Year. This is the first time we've done it in about 10 years. We decided to recognize someone in the community who has really done something just to serve the community and they have no other really connections except for just pure service," explained Russell.
The chamber gets new board members every year and part of Thursday's celebration was a changing of the guard of sorts.
Outgoing president, Jessica Stephens, spoke with News 3 about what she saw during her year as president and what she hopes to continue to see for the future of Saline County.
"We're pleased that we've had several new restaurants come in, different businesses opening, so as far as growth, I mean, we would love more, but at least we're seeing some," said Stephens.
Nearly 200 local friends of the community came out to support the chamber, and come to find out, that kind of support is happening in Saline County year-round.
Russell said, "We work with a lot of the other area groups to try and improve business in Saline County, which is kind of one of my goals for this year is to work closer with a lot of our municipalities and different levels of government bring more business into Saline County and improve Saline County."
Stephens explained, "We live in a wonderful area, and I think having all of the surrounding people and our community, that's what really draws people in."
Stephens said the key to growth in the community is communication.
"All in all, it was actually a matter of, when speaking with our membership, working on retaining our membership, and really strengthening those relationships that we already have and really learning how to strengthen our communication between our board and our member. But overall, I feel our communication has definitely strengthened, and we've really built that bond between between our membership."
The chamber itself is growing as well.
"We're re-launching our ambassador program. This will give us a few more hands to reach out to the community and serve our members a little bit better.
"We have our directors and we have our board that do all they can, but ambassadors can kind of be like a board member in training program," Russsell said.
The ambassador program and short tenures make it possible for more community members to become a part of what shapes this community.
Stephens said, "I am a mother of four, we just had our fourth baby in October, so passing on the guard I'm excited because I do get more time with my family, which I'm excited about. My husband will tell you, he's excited too he's not by himself as much at home with our kids, but I'm still going to be on the board as a director so I'll definitely still be involved I just won't have that main role."
Russell continued, "One of the great things about the the chamber board is that every year it does rotate so we're always getting fresh new ideas and new perspectives and they get to work with some of our seasoned members."
President Russell said there are new businesses already planning to come to Saline County this year, but he can't tell us what they are just yet.
As soon as we know, we've got you covered, and we'll pass that news along.
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February 21, 2020 at 09:58PM
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Saline County Chamber of Commerce looks to bring in members and businesses - WSIL TV
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