ProJect of Easton - Member of the Day

Enjoy an evening of fabulous food, wine, and beer sampling at ProJeCt of Easton’s October 7 Simply Savory — all to benefit ProJeCt! 

Our culinary participants include: Baker Street Bakeshop, Beyond Cakes, Blue Grillhouse, Constantino’s, Cozze Cakes, deLorenzo’s, Divine Dining, Elizabeth Mulrine Culinary Events, Franklin Hill Vineyards, Green Harvest Food Emporium, Leaf Restaurant & Cigar Bar, Marblehead Chowder House, Marianna’s Pizza Café, Maxim’s 22, Miguel’s, Northstar Catering, Pearly Baker’s Alehouse, Sette Luna, Thyme Restaurant & Bar, Two Rivers Brewing Company, Valenca, Vintage, Vintner’s Circle and Weyerbacher Brewery. 

Guests will also enjoy a silent auction and raffle with great prizes including gift certificates to area restaurants and attractions, jewelry from Beverly Palm Jewelers and an iPad, and music provided by the Easton High School Flute Quartet.  

Join us on Monday, October 7th from 5:30 - 9 p.m. at the Hampton Inn on Route 248. Reservations are $75, available at www.projecteaston.orgor 610-258-4361, ext. 18. 

ProJeCt of Easton is a community benefit human service agency that provides tiers of service including an emergency assistance and food program, case management support services as well as educational and literacy programs such as ESL, GED preparation, family literacy and more.

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Get Involved in a Charitable Cause - ALS Awareness Month

Guest Blog post "Get Involved in a Charitable Cause" written by: Holly Bennett, Lehigh Valley ALS Volunteer.

The daily pressures of family and work often prohibit us from devoting time and effort to charitable causes.  There are just not enough hours in a day.  Often we are fortunate to be able to make a difference to a charity through the support of an employer.  Small and large businesses alike offer opportunities for employees to get involved in charitable organizations during business hours through toy drives, dress down days, golf outings, community walks, and other creative philanthropic initiatives.

Collaborating with charitable organizations provides significant benefits to business owners and executive managers.  For instance, raising money, collecting toys, and walking as a team provides a mechanism for team building, which resonates long after the charitable initiative.  Approved participation in charitable events gives employees a sense of pride in their employer.  In addition, employers often receive advertising benefits through signage and media coverage through their participation in a charitable cause.

I have seen the profound effect of local businesses; many of them chamber members, on charitable causes.  For the past eleven years I volunteered for the ALS Association and watched the participation of local businesses in the Lehigh Valley Walk to Defeat ALS® grow. Ultimately, the support of local businesses makes a direct impact on ALS patients in the Lehigh Valley. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease occurs throughout the world with no racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic boundaries, typically striking men and women between the ages of 35 and 70. Over 5,000 Americans are diagnosed with ALS each year.  ALS is characterized by a degeneration of motor cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness and, as the disease progresses, severe impairment of mobility, speech, swallowing, and respiratory function. In the advanced stages, ALS care can cost up to $250,000 a year. Average life expectancy, without invasive mechanical ventilation, is approximately two to five years from diagnosis.  ALS patients in the Lehigh Valley are our neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family and they need our help.

ALS is not a common disease, but when my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS in 2002, I knew there were others in the Lehigh Valley fighting the same battle.  I spear headed the first walk in the Lehigh Valley in 2003.  That year we raised approximately $40,000 with the help of local businesses and patient families.  Each year after 2003, the support of the community continued to grow.  Last year marked the tenth anniversary of the walk and we celebrated a milestone of a million dollars raised over the tenure of our event.

Lehigh Valley businesses can have a direct impact on community members who face significant life challenges.   If you are not already involved in a charity as a Lehigh Valley employer, investigate the local opportunities among non-profits in our community.  Participation is a win-win situation for your business and employees, as well as the people supported by the charity of your choice.  The eleventh annual Lehigh Valley Walk to Defeat ALS will take place at Coca Cola Park on Saturday, October 19, 2013.  

For more information about ways to involve your business with this event, contact Allison Walker, Events Director at allison@alsphiladelphia.org or 1-877-GEHRIG-1 (1-877-434-7441).

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The Main Street Lehigh Valley Foundation

One of the best things that we do at this Chamber is run our Main Street Lehigh Valley Foundation.  I'd call it our best kept secret, since many are familiar with the programs that it actually operates but not the Foundation itself, and this is absolutely something worth talking about.

The Main Street Lehigh Valley Foundation is a foundation that seeks to raise money to be reinvested in programs and physical improvements in the urban core of the Lehigh Valley.  It raises the money from private and public partners, of which there are several.

The Foundation itself runs a grant program and two Main Street programs:

Community Improvement Grants (CIG):  Operating on a bi-annual basis, the CIG program provides matching grants of up to $2,000 for streetscape improvement, events, urban planning and promotional efforts.  A 50% match is required, ensuring that a grant recipient has multiple partners committed to the success of a project.  To date, 101 grants have been awarded, totaling more than $192,000 in funding that has leveraged an additional $4,300,000 in other funding.  For more information on the grants awarded, see the attached document.  We just made our 5th grant awards and will announce those shortly.

Borough Business Revitalization Program:  The Borough Business Revitalization Program (BBRP) is a regional Main Street program that seeks to revitalize the downtowns of the seven participating Boroughs (Alburtis, Bangor, Bath, Catasauqua Coopersburg, Hellertown and Pen Argyl).   This is a bottom-up program whereby volunteers, elected officials, business and property owners work together to outline the goals of their program and execute projects that fit the need of each participating community.  The coordinator provides technical support, access to resources, and helps to coordinate the volunteer efforts and assist municipal staff.  The program specifically works in five areas:
• Improving the physical appearance of each downtown.
• Recruiting more businesses while assisting already existing ones.
• Promoting each community as a great place to live, work and play.
• Ensuring that each community is safe, clean and green.
• Creating a sustainable board that can manage the program years into the future.

Hamilton District Main Street Program (HDMSP):  The HDMSP operates in downtown Allentown, from 5th to 12th street, Walnut to Linden Streets.  The HDMSP seeks to revitalize downtown Allentown and concentrates specifically in the areas of Marketing, Asset Development, Design, Safe, Clean & Green and Organizational Development.  Like the BBRP, the HDMSP consists of volunteers, elected officials and local business and property owners that are working towards the revitalization of downtown Allentown.

Check out the video below for more info on the Foundation:



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