News Features

A Year Into Reboot, Umatilla Chamber Flying High

    Nearly a full year after a new partnership with the City of Umatilla and a relaunch of the organization, the Umatilla Chamber of Commerce is riding high. The chamber, tasked with promoting the business climate in Umatilla while supporting certain city and community functions along the way, finds itself in an unprecedented position of growth and engagement.
   Chamber executive Charelle Burgess joined the organization as the school year ended last May as the chamber’s first full time employee. A Umatilla native, Burgess hit the ground running, taking an organization with just a handful of active members and a revolving door of office staff into a well-organized machine that today boasts 150 members and a record number of ‘keystone’ members denoted as community partners’.
   The chamber is fresh off a record-setting Golf For Graduation event, which raised over $10,000 for high school scholarships. Held in cooperation with the Umatilla Kiwanis Club, the outing provides a day of golf and business networking in the name of education.
   The event was just the latest success for the reinvigorated organization. It’s breakfast series, historically struggling to attract 20 people, today regularly welcomes over 50. A recent business training event held at the city’s Cadwell Park community building on the growing impact on AI in business drew a full house, and the chamber’s activity in promoting members in the community and online has grown substantially.
   Burgess has become a member of the Florida Association of Chamber Professionals, furthering the opportunities to bring pertinent information and training back to Umatilla’s business community.
   On May 7, the chamber will welcome United Southern Bank for a Fraud Prevention program, beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the Cadwell Park building. Cost is just $15 with reservations available at 352-669-3511. Breakfast will be catered by Jeannie’s Place restaurant.
   In June, the chamber will formally celebrate its one-year rebirth with a membership reception at Umatilla’s Palm Mansion events center. That June 4 event is expected to include live entertainment and catering from Mount Dora’s Pisces Rising restaurant.
   To learn more about the chamber or to become a member, visit www.umatillachamber.org.