Chamber CHATTER 10.24.13 6 West Strawberry Avenue, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 (717) 796-0811 www.mechanicsburgchamber.org In This Issue: CHAMBER EVENTS October Member Spotlight.......................................4 Sue Erdman: Joseph T. Simpson Library 31 - Business Leaders Coffee Hour - Discussion Group at Advanced Physical Therapy, 102 W. Allen Chamber seeking candidates for Board of St., Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. 7:45 - 9:00 AM. FREE Directors...........................................2 event. PATIENT FIRST center offers Halloween November Candy X-Rays on 10/31.....................6 12 - Business Women’s Networking Luncheon Quaker Steak & Lube® Restaurant hiring in sponsored by Konhaus Marketing & Communications. Mechanicsburg, Scheduled to open Event will be held at Strock’s Catering Barn, 729 Williams Grove Rd., Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. 11:30 AM - 1:00 11/13.................................................9 PM. FREE for members; $10 for non-members. Member News, Events & more! 19 - After-Hours Mixer at Centric Bank, 6480 Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050. 5:00 - 7:00 PM. FREE event. Trick or UPCOMING RIBBON CUTTINGS Treat Friday, October 25; 11:30 am Amos Went West, 71A West Main St, Mechanicsburg, october 31 6-8 PM PA 17055 for the following municipalities : Friday, November 1; 11:30 am Heather Blair Photography, 128 W. Main St., borough of Mechanicsburg, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 hampden, lower allen, monroe, silver spring, and Thursday, November 7; 9:00 am upper allen townships Teleplan, 6350 Brackbill Blvd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 Thank You For Renewing Your Membership! Dream Travel Services HealthSouth Rehabilitation Services Senator Pat Vance This year’s Streets of Treats was a TREMENDOUS success! THANK YOU to our SPONSORS! Autobodies by Lucas/Major's Select Collision Center NEXT Financial - Shawn Greenland Over The Top Balloons Sons of American Legion - Post 109 Gettysburg Pike Animal Clinic Greenawalt & Co., P.C. John M. Eakin, Attorney at Law Konhaus Marketing & Communications Main Street Laundromat Wrightstone Electric BJ’s Wholesale Club DanceVibe Joy's Ceramics Mechanicsburg Eye Associates Salon on Main Mechanicsburg Chamber Will Hold Election for Board of Directors at January Meeting If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors for the Mechanicsburg Chamber of Commerce, click here to review job description, nomination policies, procedures and application. We are accepting applications! You can also find this information on our website under the ‘About Us’ section, then click on the link to download the information pack towards the middle of the page. Business Leaders Coffee Hour Discussion Group Thursday, October 31, 2013 7:45 - 9:00 a.m. Hosted by: Advanced Physical Therapy & Fitness 102 W. Allen St. Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 This event is open to all business owners, decision-makers, and management staff Bring your questions and business topics and hear what others have to say! This event is free to Mechanicsburg Chamber of Commerce members. RSVPing is easy. Simply email [email protected], RSVP online, or call 717-796-0811 Downtown Mechanicsburg Clean-up Day Saturday, November 2 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm A downtown cleanup day will be held on November 2, 2013. The event will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at noon. Volunteers will be meeting at the Main Street gateway sign located across from Hellenic Kouzina. The day will conclude with hot dogs being served at the square. If you are interested in volunteering, please RSVP to Layne Lebo at llebo@ mcbic.org by October 30th. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! Warehouse Service Project New Hope has been blessed with an abundance of food - praise God! Now, we are in need of extra hands and strong bodies to help renovate, move, and clean the equipment in our Mechanicsburg West Shore Warehouse to better accommodate our supply. Saturday, November 2, we welcome you to join us for our Warehouse Renovation Service Project. Sign-up for a time to renovate, lift and assemble racking, move food boxes, paint, clean, sort, and recycle. We need many volunteers for this day of service and renovation. Please consider volunteering this Saturday - and spread the word about this service project with your friends, church, co-workers, neighbors, and family. Many hands make light work! Thank you! Click here to sign-up and help us this Saturday! Page 4 Member SPOTLIGHT Joseph T. Simpson Public Library Q&As with Sue Erdman, Library Director What is your business? What services do you offer? I am the Library Director at the Joseph T. Simpson Public Library in Mechanicsburg. A member of the Cumberland County Library System, the Simpson Library provides an array of print and media resources, electronic access to information, educational programs for all ages, and serves as a com- munity gathering place. What makes your company unique or different from your competition? The public library is a community re- source that shares information with people of all ages. People borrow more than half a million items a year, read or view them, and then return them. Simpson Library strives to provide a high level of personal, customer service to the 800 people who visit the library every day. How are you moving your company forward? What are you doing to improve your business? Technology continues to change the business landscape for libraries, as well as for all businesses. We need to continually adapt to change and learn new technology in order to remain relevant in our society. Educational programs remain an important part of the library’s services and programs are offered for all ages. How did you end up in your current line of work? I worked in the school library in high school and knew that I wanted to be a librarian when I graduated. I was an Elementary Education major with a minor in Library Science and later earned a Master’s degree in Library Science. I love being a librarian! What makes you most proud of your company? I am proud of the amount of use the library has by the community, the tremendous following we have for our children’s programs, the impact these educational programs have on people, and the fact that our free Internet access bridges the digital divide between people who can afford and have computer access at home with those who do not have access. I am extremely proud and fortunate to work with a very dedicated group of employees and volunteers and enjoy working with a visionary and committed Board of Trustees and Friends of the Joseph T. Simpson Public Library group. What marketing tactics have most helped your business succeed? Our biggest success is through word of mouth – one person telling another person about the fun library program for infants or the fact that the library has a TV series for loan on DVD. Once people visit us for the first time, they are amazed at the amount of resources and services we provide. What is the most challenging part of your job? As with any non-profit organization, adequate funding is always a challenge and a concern. We hold a number of fundraising events during the year, receive government funding, and depend on our community to support us with their charitable donations. There are so many activities coming up, just passed, or in the planning stages that you are always jumping from one project to another. What is the best part of your job? Time flies! Too fast, most days! As an administrator, my favorite part of the job is helping my staff and boards grow and develop, take on new projects and challenges, and implement new ideas and services. One person can’t do everything and the more people you have working together for a common purpose, the greater the results will be. As a librarian, there are two favorites for me. The first is sharing my love of mystery and romance books with other readers. Nothing brings people together faster than a shared passion for a specific author. My other favorite part is when I see children in the library, usually in the elevator on my way up or down, and they are excited about the books they picked out or just attended our Story Time program and are clutching a homemade craft or are all excited that Toddler Time is about to start and they can’t wait to get in the room for the stories and songs. Our services to children are vitally important to us. Why did you become a member of the Mechanicsburg Chamber of Commerce? One of the first things I did when I joined the library in July 1996 was to join the Chamber. It is important for the library to be visible in the community and what better way to do that than by being affiliated with area businesses. The library has many resources to offer busi- nesses and we purchase services from businesses so it makes perfect sense to be part of the Chamber. What is your favorite Mechanicsburg Chamber event? My favorite event is the AM Business Strategies programs. They provide good educational content in a one-hour time frame. Everyone walks away with a few new pieces of informa- tion at each session and they have the opportunity to meet and network with new people. The first Chamber event that I attended was a mixer about one month after I started working at the library 17 years ago. The mixer was held in the parking area at the Chamber train car and Susanna Reppert from the Rosemary House was the President of the Chamber at that time in 1996. I remember Susanna taking me under her wing and personally introducing me to every person who came to the mixer. I’ve always remembered her kindness and assistance as I didn’t know a single person at that time! What was your first job? I worked at Hardees in Shippensburg, PA as a cashier.