Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce honored some of its members for their contributions to the community over the past year at its annual Awards Celebration Thursday.
The New Business of the Year award was presented to Jeff Dyson, of South Shore Social, by Jason Dewart of Interra Credit Union.
The Papers Inc. owner Ron Baumgartner presented the Educator of the Year award to Cindy Brady, student services coordinator at Syracuse Elementary.
The Small Business of the Year award was presented to Tricia Teghtmeyer, of Teghtmeyer Ace Hardware, by Dr. Richard Brungart, Lakeland Animal Clinic.
The Ambassador of the Year Award was presented to Missy Longenecker by Alex Hall of the Kosciusko County Community Foundation.
The Large Business of the Year went to Polywood. No representative of Plywood was present to accept the award.
Milford Food Bank was named Nonprofit of the Year, presented by Angie Summers of K21 Health Foundation. Dennis Wuthrich, also of Milford Food Bank, was presented Volunteer of the Year by Robin Palmer, Crossroads Bank.
Board Chair Chris Scheeren also honored former board member Kim Strawbridge for her service to the chamber and presented her with a vase as a token of appreciation.
After the awards portion of the evening concluded, Scheeren reflected, "This is one of my favorite nights, because I think we have one of the best communities in the world. Our people put in a ton of effort, they care, and it's really cool just to say thank you to the people who make this place so awesome. ... I wish we had more awards because we had some great nominees, especially for Educator of the Year."
The crowd gathered at the Oakwood Resort event center also heard an address from new Chamber Director Brent Randall. Randall, who came into his position in the beginning of March, spoke about his excitement to be involved in the economic growth of his home community.
"I am a North Webster-Syracuse boy, and it's nice to be back in our community and see all the wonderful things that are happening in Syracuse and the Wawasee community," he said.
He also mentioned renovations on the chamber building and thanked chamber members for their investment in improving it.
"Many of you in this room, you made that happen. ... I want to put the spotlight on our members and work for you and turn your investment multiple fold into the chamber," he stated.
This year's guest speaker was Emily Logsdon, of Purdue University's Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP).
MEP, she explained, provides a variety of different designed services to help businesses grow, including marketing plans and business strategies, risk assessment, supply chain optimization, internal auditing for maintaining quality standards and more. In the field of technology, it can help with cybersecurity assessments and robotics implementation, to name a few services. It also provides assistance in the fields of human resources, health and safety and leadership.
Logsdon mentioned there is "an incredible amount of small businesses in Indiana" and stated MEP's services are for any type of business, including nonprofits.
MEP provides both onsite training and public workshops. More information is available at mep.purdue.edu or by contacting elogsdon@purdue.edu.
Before dinner and awards, attendees had a chance to mingle and purchase raffle tickets for items from local businesses, including gift certificates, gift baskets, baseball tickets and tickets to the S.S. Lillypad.
