  Dear
Members,
This article is normally reserved for an upbeat reflection,
motivational anecdote, or other useful or timely business issue. This month is
going to be a little different. This one comes solely from the heart. I can't
begin to tell everyone how much I really appreciate your feedback on my column
each month. The response has been overwhelming. My January article really seemed
to touch a nerve with some people.
I was particularly touched by the
response I got from a great friend of the Chamber, Shelly Wolf. For those of you
who don't know Shelly, he has been very involved in the Chamber for many years,
although recently an illness has sidelined him. I was walking through a parking
lot the day after the January newsletter came out and Shelly's car pulled up along
side of me. Shelly rolled down his window and told me that he had planned on calling
me to tell me my article was a true inspiration and that he printed it out and
now lives by it. That really made my day, thanks Shelly! The next day he sent
an email to the Chamber office which is included in this month's newsletter. I
was reflecting on Shelly's words and they put a lot of things into perspective.
In the past five months I've lost 8 family members or friends. Seeing
Shelly that day made me grateful for my family and all the friends I have made
at the Chamber. I know of at least one other Chamber member who is battling a
serious illness, and I am inspired by their courageous fight. Recently, Mayor
Scott Brook ran a half marathon in memory of his childhood friend who had passed
away from leukemia. That is inspiring and something to be very proud of. How often
do we get the chance to tell our family and friends how they inspire us and how
much we appreciate them?
Cindy said I have to keep my column "brief"
this month, so I'll wrap it up with this… Give thanks every day to those who inspire
you. Whether it's your kids, your parents, your spouse, a friend, or someone you
run into on the street. Tell them how much they mean to you, it's amazing how
good it will make them feel. And above all, do something that is worthy of being
an inspiration to someone else.
"The quality of a person's life is in
direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen
field of endeavor."
- Vince Lombardi
Sincerely,
Michael DiTocco
Chairman of the Board
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| Ribbon
Cutting Items Needed
Another
opportunity to get exposure for your business!
Bring your company's promotional
products (enough for about 15 baskets) to Dan Bruck at Kilwins Chocolates located
at 2758 University Drive in the Walk.
One
of your items will be added into the basket that is given out to new members at
their ribbon cutting. This is a great way to introduce your business to other
members!
If you have any questions please contact
the Chamber office at 954-752-4242. |
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A+
Floors
Maria Fuenmayor
7881 W. Sample Road
Coral Springs, Florida
33065
954-340-6687
Advantage Title, Inc.
Betty Sherman
9732 W. Sample Road
Coral Springs, Florida 33065
954-344-8988
Coral Springs Worship Center
Pastor Harold Zapata
1901 Coral Ridge
Drive
Coral Springs, Florida 33077
954-592-4998
Intense Training
Brian Malkovsky
Kris Isham
10874 Wiles Road
Coral Springs, Florida
33076
954-346-5766
Power Smoothie Café
Dan Hicks
4383
NW 124th Avenue
Coral Springs, Florida 33065
954-345-0150
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Staples
Arlene De Leo
4301 W. Hillsboro Blvd
Coconut Creek,
Florida 33073
954-421-1395
Summit Realty Trust, Inc.
Stephanie
Frazier
5501 N. University Drive, Suite 104
Coral Springs, Florida 33067
954-509-0402
The Instylediva.com
Teana McDonald
3370 NW
78th Avenue
Margate, Florida 33063
954-864-1639
Wachovia
Derek Nembhard
350 East Las Olas, Suite 1500
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
33301
954-765-3817
Weiss Financial Services
Jeffrey Weiss
12651 N.W. 18th Place
Coral Springs, Florida 33071
954-575-1600
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AmTrust
Bank
SunTrust Bank
| Scott
J. Brook P.A.
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CORAL
SPRINGS CHAMBER SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS LUNCHEON PRESENTED BY NORTHWEST MEDICAL
CENTER
The
Coral Springs Chamber of Commerce is proud to announce the 2007 annual "Coral
Springs Awards Luncheon" presented by Northwest Medical Center. This spectacular
event will be held at the Coral Springs Marriott Hotel, Golf Club and Convention
Center in Heron Bay on Friday, April 27th from 11:30 am to 2:00 p.m. The Small
Business Leader Awards will honor three outstanding business leaders in our
community. Additionally, the Covered Bridge Awards will honor civic leaders
and 5 outstanding high school students from the City of Coral Springs. Over 400
area business professionals and dignitaries will be at this prestigious event.
The luncheon will feature a formal Mardi Gras theme, a full lunch, wine and fabulous
shopping opportunities with a silent auction that supports the Chamber's scholarship
fund.
The Coral Springs Chamber of Commerce invites you to join us as
a sponsor of this high profile event. There are several sponsorship opportunities
available to spotlight your business or service. Contact the Chamber office at
954 752-4242 or e-mail at info@cschamber.com to take advantage of this marketing
opportunity today and to purchase individual tickets!
Please congratulate
last year's award winners:
Covered Bridge Award- Shirley Richards,
Florida Mortgage Center
Veteran Business Leader - Dr. Mark Gendal,
Drs Reisch and Gendal's Vision World
Small Business Leader - Kimberly
Knox, Promotional Products Plus
Rookie Business Leader - Barry
Spiegel, Amerimax Investments
Bridge to Leadership Awards & Scholarships
-
Stacey Cohn, Coral Springs Charter School
Kevin Nardone,
Coral Springs High School
Tracy Shank, JP Taravella High School
Saasia Ghazi, Coral Glades High School
Jason Gray, Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School
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NOTE FROM SHELLY WOLFTo
my dear friends:
I think that we should all give thanks for the wonderful
letter from Mike DiTocco. I found the letter to be very inspirational, and believe
it will be extremely beneficial to all the members of our wonderful Chamber. I
would recommend everyone keep a copy of the letter and periodically read same,
as it will help you through some very difficult times, both on a personal as well
as business basis.
As most of you know, I have been going through an extremely
stressful time of my life as the result of a medical issue. When I received the
letter, I just happened to be in a very negative frame of mind, and found Mike's
words to be of major assistance. I thank you, Mike, for the encouraging and inspirational
words, and look forward to seeing you all very soon.
Sincerely,
Shelly Wolff
AABS Inspection Services
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| EDUCATION
COMMITTEE UPDATE | STUDENT
CENTRAL NEEDS YOU!!!!!
Peter Ocello of Coralspringspages.com
has done an amazing job getting Coral Springs Student Central, a central information
resource for Students and parents, up and running.
The Number 1 complaint
we hear from parents is that their students need service hours!!!
We need
your Service Hours Opportunities to post on the site. If you own a business or
are associated with a fund raising charity event PLEASE contact us immediately
at admin@southfloridapages.com.
Sign onto www.csstudentcentral.com
check us out today!
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|   Have
you ever been placed on-hold listening to nothing but dead air or the annoying
commercials and DJ chatter of the radio? What do your callers hear
when placed on-hold? Coral Springs-based WatSounds, Inc. helps businesses
enhance their image and promote their services by offering customized telephone
on-hold recordings. They also offer website design through their web division,
WatSites.
A customized telephone on-hold recording allows a business
to impact and entertain callers, educate and inform them of promotions, and reduce
hang-ups. WatSounds provides everything needed, including a professional
script and voice-over, any style of background music, equipment (if needed), and
periodic updates for maximum effectiveness.
WatSites, the company's
website division, offers custom website design, hosting, search engine optimization
(to drive traffic to your site), shopping carts, e-mail newsletters, and domain
names.
Owner Amir Watynski (aka "A mere mortal") has been an active
member of the Coral Springs Chamber for over 7 years and is currently serving
his second term on the Board of Directors and as Chair of the Chamber's Technology
Committee.
WatSounds,
Inc.
10211 W. Sample Road, Ste. 217
Coral Springs, FL 33065 954-255-0720
www.watsounds.com
amir@watsounds.com
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Barry
Spiegel, Amerimax Investments, recently received the rising star award presented
at the Dunkin Donuts Global Convention in Las Vegas recognizing top new franchisees
exhibiting major sales growth as well as excellence in product quality, cleanliness
and customer service.
Cheryl Scavron - Named to Top 100 Finalists!
Royal Caribbean will bestow the honor of Godmother of the Liberty of the Seas
to a travel agent. Cheryl was informed this past Friday by RCCL that she is a
finalist. We congratulate Cheryl for this honor of being considered and making
the top 100 finalists. We are excited for her and we hope you are as well.
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TECHNOLOGY
SEMINAR The
Coral Springs Chamber Technology Committee would like to invite you to the "Marketing
with Technology" workshop. This workshop is an opportunity to learn from the experts
on how to use Technology to drive more revenue and clients to your business.
You'll
gain practical knowledge from the experts about: -
Websites - How to set them up, costs, and all the buzzwords.
- Email
marketing - how to keep in touch with your clients on a regular basis
- Driving
traffic toy our website - Ok you have a website, how do you get it publicized
effectively.
- Organizing
your clients and customer's information - The latest tools on how to manage their
contact data
Who: Coral Springs
Chamber Technology Committee
What: "Marketing with Technology"
Where:
Coral Springs Chamber Offices
When: Friday - February 9th, 11:30 am
- 1:15 pm, followed by Q&A.
Cost: None- sponsored by speakers
Included:
Lunch, Drinks and Dessert
Topics
& Sponsors: "Websites 101" - Amir Watynski
..............................."Email
Marketing" - Andrea Zoller
..............................."Driving
Traffic To Your Websites" - Viresh Seth
..............................."Knowing
Your Customers" - Mike DiTocco
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Coral
Springs Chamber Makes Dreams Come True for Local Family!  Photo
is of Chris Ryan, Servpro of Coral Springs, Cindy Brief, President Coral Springs
Chamber of Commerce & Barbara Epes, Community Relations, Coral Springs Medical
Center |
A
Tamarac family of five suffered total loss when fire destroyed their home. Four
of the five family members (three children and the father) were admitted and treated
at Coral Springs Medical Center following the fire. Left with nothing but their
heartbreaking story and the struggle of putting their lives back together, employees
of Coral Springs Medical Center immediately initiated a donation drive. Starting
with hospital employees, they soon reached out to the community and local businesses
who readily pitched in to help the family. Items collected include clothes, household
items, services, money and hotel stays.
A special thanks to Chris Ryan
and ServPro of Coral Springs for offering their services free of charge to clean
up the temporary residence for the family. Servpro Industries, Inc is a national
leader and provider of fire, water, mold and other specialty clean up and restoration
services. Chris and his brother, Andrew have four licensed Servpro territories
in South Florida. They are fully qualified to handle everything from the smallest
cleaning jobs to property damage emergencies ranging from multi-million dollar
disasters affecting entire communities to those suffered by individual businesses
and homes. They can be reached at (954) 725-6400
Thanks to all of our
Chamber members for helping out this family in need!
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Youth
Job Fair
The
City of Coral Springs Youth & Family Advisory Committee will be hosting a Youth
Job Fair on Thursday March 15, 2007 at the NW Regional Library, 3151 University
Drive, Coral Springs, FL. The Fair, which will be held in cooperation with the
Coral Springs Chamber of Commerce, will take place from 12:20 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Lunch, and set-up time for you will be from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and the students
will be arriving at 1:30 p.m.
We invite you, as one of our local businesses,
to participate in this event. If you need a student for a summer job or perhaps
a part time position during after school hours, please join us at the Youth Job
Fair. We would like you or your representative to come and meet the young people
of our community, who would appreciate the opportunity to work for you.
As a value-added feature, prior to the Job Fair, a Business Success Day will be
offered to prospective candidates. This will offer them the opportunity to train
in areas such as resume writing, interviewing tips, dress for success and other
job-related area skills. Only those students who have graduated from this training
will be eligible to apply for the jobs you have to offer, thereby ensuring that
you are being offered well-trained candidates. This is your opportunity to help
a young person from the community to get a high- quality experience in the job
market.
Please also participate and take advantage of using the City's
Teen Web Site, which is free of charge to future job availabilities. Log
on to www.coralsprings.org/teenjobs,
and follow the instructions. We need you to make this program a success.
Please call Regina Price, Youth Services Coordinator at (954) 340-5030 or email
her at rprice@coralsprings.org
if you are interested in attending the Youth Job Fair.
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Ambassador
Committee
| Education
Committee
| Chair:
Connie Carberg
Meets: Tuesday, February 6th
Time: 8:00 a.m.
Place:
Chamber Office | Chair:
Kimberly Knox/Steve Laska
Meets: Wednesday, February 21st
Time: 8:00 a.m.
Place: J.P. Taravella High School | Technology
Committee
| | Chair:
Amir Watynski
Meets: Monday, January 26th
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Place: Chamber
Office | |
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Please
R.S.V.P. to the Chamber office for all events to help us plan accordingly!
Phone:
954-752-4242 ext. 10 or 12 Fax 954-827-0543 • email: info@cschamber.com
Networking
@ Noon!
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Wednesday,
February 7th, 2007
12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m.
The Palms
Point
11775 W. Atlantic Boulevard Coral Springs
(West
of Coral Ridge Drive on the north side of Atlantic-it's an apartment complex gone
condo)
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Wake
Up Breakfast
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Tuesday,
February 13th, 2007
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Longhorn
Steakhouse
2660 University Drive Coral Springs
(On the south end
of "The Walk at University")
Happy Hour drink specials
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Tuesday,
February 20th, 2007
7:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Coral Springs
Marriott
11775 Heron Bay Blvd. Coral Springs
Sponsored
by:
Law Offices of McFarlane & Dolan
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February 2007 Schedule of Ribbon Cuttings
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Wednesday,
February 7th, 2007 @ 5:30 p.m.
Whispering Woods Center, LLC
7401 Wiles
Road
Coral Springs
(2 miles east of University Drive,
building is located on the north side of Wiles Road)
Please R.S.V.P. to Gladys
Mezrahi @ 305-931-2370 or email gmezrahi@INDIGOEVENTS.NET
Thursday, February 15th, 2007 @ 5:30 p.m.
Maddy's Printing
10004 N
W 53rd Street
Sunrise
(Sawgrass Expressway go south,
exit Commercial to Nob Hill turn right, turn right onto 53rd Street,
very
first left you can make-2nd to the last building on the right)
Please R.S.V.P.
to Steve Lopata @ 954-749-0440
Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
@ 5:30 p.m.
Physician Weight Loss Center
2087 N. University Drive
Coral Springs
(Located on the Coral Palm Plaza, south of
Royal Palm Drive, north end of the plaza)
Please R.S.V.P. to Ronnie Roth
@ 954-510-7952
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 @ 5:30 p.m.
Coral Springs Styling and Barbershop
1951 N. University Drive
Coral Springs
(One block south of Royal Palm Blvd., between 19th & 20th Streets,
directly across the street from Red Lobster).
Please R.S.V.P. to Steve
Holbrooke @ 954-752-4433
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