Dear Members,

This is our Carlisle and Cumberland County. Our home, our life. If we are picking teams, this is ours. As we all grapple with what the future holds, the Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce and CBEF are monitoring the outbreak and its impact on our members and communities. As always, we are committed you - the Carlisle area business community.

This afternoon, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf held a press conference - here is a link to get more specific information - https://www.governor.pa.gov/live/ - in regard to changes with businesses in the state.

Here is an update on the Chamber and our members –

YOUR INPUT: Let us know how the most recent closures are effecting your business.  We want to know what your needs are and will do our best to help assist our members in this difficult and trying time.

Chamber Events: It is important that our members remain safe and secure from any potential exposure to the Coronavirus- therefore the Chamber has cancelled most of our major events for the month of March including our Legislative Affairs Breakfast with PA Senator Judy Ward and the March mixer at the the Launch Pad. We will work to reschedule these events at a later date. Any members registered will receive a credit, or a refund if they prefer. We will be closely monitoring the situation and take any necessary precautions regarding April events and meetings as needed. Please stay tuned for more information or visit our website for the status of our programs.

Webinars: To help you to navigate this very new reality, we are working with Jeff McCausland from Diamond6 Leadership & Strategy, LLC to bring his new webinar on Thursday night, March 19th about how to mitigate through the Covid-19 health issue. We will have more information about this in the next couple days.

Chamber Operations: The Chamber staff will be working at home and at the office with limited hours. We are asking that you call and/or email in advance. We want to make sure that that we can continue to be a resource to you, so we have also taken the necessary steps so that our team can work remotely, if they need to.

Coronavirus Impact Survey: In an effort to gain an accurate assessment of the outbreak’s impact to businesses, the Chamber has created a brief survey that will be distributed Tuesday, March 17th. We encourage all of our members to participate in this survey so we may effectively assist you with what you need. All information will be reported in general terms and individual business information will remain confidential. Alternatively, please feel free to reach out to me directly with any challenges or disruptions that you have experienced over the last two weeks.

Coronavirus Information & Resources: We will be adding information to our website and app daily, along with social media, with links to different resources to help educate employers and employees on how to prepare for and address the impacts of the Coronavirus. It includes information from the CDC, State and the US Chamber. We will update this online toolkit as new guidance and information becomes available. We encourage you to continue to monitor the outbreak and implement strategies to help protect your customers and employees, with the least possible impact to your operations.

Business Advisory and Financial Support: Our team is ready to discuss small business assistance programs and loans to help cover any cash flow challenges you may be experiencing from any disruption in business. If we can’t help, we can connect you to the SBDC, CAEDC, SCORE or one of our member financial institutions, who may be able to assist you. Please feel free to reach out to me personally

Post-Outbreak Recovery Promotion: Our marketing team is creating a few different marketing campaigns to support small businesses in recovering from the disruption. We are also collaborating with other groups in advocating for the development of a state-wide campaign. Please contact Jen Germain, our Marketing Director; Donna Hunter, our Membership Vice President or myself, so that we can consider/share/support your ideas. We need to know what you'll be doing after the restrictions are lifted so we can be sure to promote your activities through the Chamber's channels.

In closing, we recognize that you may be feeling the impact of this crisis in an immediate and profound way. We are committed to helping you get through this. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if we can help.

Since 1913, the Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce has withstood two world wars, the Depression, the Energy Crisis, recessions, the attacks of 9/11, the crash of 2008, and now we are mitigating through this new reality. We, as Americans, always need to remember in the resiliency of our great country. And, we as business owners and community leaders need to remember that past leaders of this country and our community have passed this torch to us. We stand ready to be a shining light in a time of uncertainty. We will be even stronger than before!

 

Michelle Hornick Crowley

President and CEO of the Carlisle Area Chamber of Commerce