Mankato Cares still has funds to partner with community groups

Mankato Chamber of Commerce 2023 meeting minutes

 

January 19, 2023



The 2023 annual meeting for the Mankato Chamber of Commerce took place Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the Buffalo Roam Steakhouse with 12 members and nine guests present. Jason Ortman, president, called the meeting to order. The 2022 Annual Meeting minutes, the December minutes and the treasurer’s report were approved.

Haley Nelson read a report from Emma Walker for Mankato Cares. There are still funds in the account and the committee wants to partner with other community groups to use the funds in the best possible places. Their grants specified any funds raised would be used for downtown and community beautification and improvement. The committee has talked to the community development about partnering on projects but there aren’t any projects in process right now. The committee was thankful for all of the help that made the 150th Celebration a success.

Board members with terms ending were Trevor Elkins and Lori Zadina. Jason Ortman made a motion to re-elect Trevor Elkins for another term. Phyllis Christie was nominated to fill Lori Zadina’s place on the board. All members approved.

Jason Ortman reportd on the chamber’s accomplishments in 2022. The chamber completed several projects and events such as” the Highway 36 Travel Guides visit, ommunity clean-up, Mother’s Day dinner, community garden, watermelon popping contest, garage sale mall, Downtown Trick-or-Treat, pumpkin decorating contest, Christmas in Mankato and the community birthday calendars. The chamber presented a scholarship to Buck Luedke and donated $500 to the Jewell County Foundation March Match Month. The chamber website had 19,024 views this year with the highest views in February with 3,000 views and only 13,718 of the views in the U.S. Overall it was another successful year that wouldn’t have happened without all the volunteers who make these events and projects possible. 

The community birthday calendars are be sold at various locations around town. They can be purchased for $5 at Hair & More and Mankato Plumbing.

Don Jacobs and Kevin Peroutek were guests to share about their new program called Everbridge. It is a mass messaging system that will be used to send out emergency messages, weather reports, organization reports etc. They can break down each message by cities and businesses. A form to sign up for the program was sent out in each city bill but if you missed it, contact one of them for one.

Five members of the Garden Club were present to share information about their organization. Marlene Brown, president, shared some of their history about the organization that started in 1948. The club does a great job keeping the town looking its best with all of their many projects they’re a part of.  They would encourage new members and anyone who might want to help with monetary donations for their supplies. The chamber thanks them for their hard work!

The membership drive has started. Haley Nelson emailed the membership forms to past members to be collected until March 1. The membership form will also be in each city bill. She will mail forms to members who have not paid by Feb. 1 so they receive both the email and an actual form in the mail. 

Sara Reiter gave a report on Santa’s Workshop. The event took place Dec. 10. They had 135 youth shop for 999 gifts. The committee had three big fundraisers and raised $1,271.81 for the event. Sara reported the volunteerism was phenomenal and things went really well! Next year they will make some minor changes for shopping times and volunteer times. They will continue to make these changes so this event continues to be a success for Jewell County families. 

Tammy and Mark Finnell were present to talk about the Mammoth Fest. It will take place June 16 and 17. Tammy presented the chamber with the idea of doing “Brunch on the Bricks” on the 17th. Haley will send out an email to see if there is any organization within the chamber members that would be interested in serving breakfast and to see what businesses would be interested in being open that morning. 

The Big Kansas Road Trip will take place May 4 to 7 in Republic, Jewell and Smith counties. If you have a locally owned small business or events that should be listed on the website, those can be listed until Feb. 1. There is a meeting at 5 p.m., Jan. 19 at the community center for all interested in the event. 

Chamber board members include James Berry, Paul Wilson, Jason Ortman, Brian Shulda, Trevor Elkins and Phyllis Christie. Officers include Jason Ortman-president, Brian Shulda-vice president, Paul Wilson-treasurer, Haley Nelson-secretary. They had a budget meeting at noon on Wednesday. 

The next general meeting will take place Feb. 8, at Bob’s of Mankato. 

 

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