The Eastern Plains Chamber of Commerce held its monthly meeting May 7, with the new membership campaign at the forefront of the discussion.Jennifer DeYoung of Crepe Caper introduced her family’s food truck business. The mobile company offers crepes and other menu items at farmers markets, community events and private parties. The DeYoungs have two Falcon High School student employees, and they plan to be more involved in the community. They are hosting a fundraiser for Dance Unlimited, a studio in Colorado Springs, to help students with competition trip expenses.Ongoing conversations among board members regarding organization revitalization plans were reported to the 11 attendees ìThe board members who are here were interim board members, so we’re working to revitalize the chamber and get it kick-started,î said Ben Kley, chairman of the board. ìHaving an election in the near future is important to get people excited and stimulate growth.ìThe membership we have as of July 1, which would be three months prior to the election, will be the membership that will be asked to submit (nominations or applications) for the election in October. We are debating whether we should do elections for all the positions at one time or hold over some of the interim board members.îThe group discussed concerns about asking members to commit to three-year terms on the board. Kley said feedback has indicated that some members do not want to commit to three years, so they are discussing one-year terms. ìI am looking for input; and, since we meet monthly, October is really not all that far away,î Kley said.Members discussed discounting first-year membership fees to entice people to join the chamber. The chamber will also provide business welcome basket to new members to introduce them to community resources.A membership committee was formed to implement the basket and new member incentives. ìI think we are moving forward within the three-to-four-phase process we’re trying to get through,î said Marci Pancoast, board secretary. ìIf we get our numbers up and people see that they can have input into what the chamber is going to do for the community, that’s going to be exciting for people.îRock Solid Chiropractic will be hosting the annual Falcon Business Expo at the Walmart shopping center Saturday, July 12. Kley asked members to consider applying for booths to market their own businesses and also consider staffing a booth for the chamber. ìWe’ll be starting with a 5k run and a kidsí dash,î said Jamie Wilcox, representative for Rock Solid. ìYou can participate in a number of different ways. You can opt to provide a raffle item or put something in our race registration bag. We’re hoping to help High Plains Helping Hands purchase a new walk-in freezer for their expanding facility.îThe next meeting will be held June 4 at 7:30 a.m. at Grace Community Church in Falcon.
