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(Ithaca, NY) The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce is expanding its Annual Awards program to include two new categories; The Not-for-Profit Organization of the Year Award and The Large Employer of the Year Award. The Chamber is also changing past policy and will present the awards on three different occasions, versus simply presenting them at its annual dinner. The location of the dinner itself is also different. To accommodate the event’s growth in its attendance, it will be held in the Emerson Suites at Ithaca College.

This year’s Annual Awards will be presented on the following dates:

  • Nov. 10, 2006. The David R. Strong Small Business of the Year Award and the New Business of the Year Award at the Lakewatch Inn on East Shore Drive in Lansing. 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
  • Dec. 8, 2006. The Not-for-Profit Organization of the Year Award and the Large Employer of the Year Award at a location to be determined. 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
  • Jan. 25, 2007 Chamber Annual Dinner. The Chamber currently anticipates presenting the Key Person of the Year Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the dinner. Chairman-elect Jeff Frey of PSP Unlimited will be sworn in and present his goals for the year, while outgoing Chairman Kyle Tuttle and Chamber President Jean McPheeters will review the past year’s accomplishments.

The Chamber board approved the changes earlier this year. They reflect the desire of the membership to recognize not-for-profit organizations for the contributions they make to the community. Chamber members also indicated they wanted to see all the annual awards take on more prominence. Finally, they suggested more time at the annual meeting should be devoted to reviewing the past year’s activities as well as the goals for the upcoming year.

Responding to the board’s decision to create the Not-for-Profit Organization of the Year Award, Chamber President Jean McPheeters stated, “Not-for-Profits in Tompkins County play a vital role in the overall quality of life we enjoy. They put a face on our efforts to make this a community that strives to assist people who need help. They provide cultural outlets that give us respite from the daily grind. They enhance our knowledge and provide environments in which our children can learn. Most of them do it without adequate staffing or funding. The Not-for-Profit of the Year Award acknowledges those contributions and all the others those organizations make.

The decision to hold separate ceremonies for the award recipients is two-fold. It allows the Chamber to give more recognition to award recipients that members think they deserve. It also creates more time at the annual dinner for a discussion of the upcoming year’s goals and a review of the past year.

“The Chamber board clearly took the concerns of the members seriously,” says Doug Levine, the Director of Membership and Public Relations for the Chamber. “It’s wonderful to see the growth in the annual dinner that’s taken place over the past few years, but at the same time, the significance of the things we considered most important were being diluted by it.”
The Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce will mark its 121st year, when it holds its annual dinner in January. The Chamber is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting Tompkins County.

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