Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce August Update
Our August explorations brought us to the Town of Pink Hill with our Coffee & Conversations event at Brewed on Broadway. We were thrilled to kick off our month by connecting with the Town of Pink Hill and their business community. It is a growing section of Lenoir County offering plenty of wonderful shops, unique finds, beautiful venues, and more! We are so grateful for all the support for this event, and we hope to continue to grow our Pink Hill network.
We happily added Wild Arrow Boutique as one of our newest members. Wild Arrow Boutique is a stunning shop that everyone should check out. We certainly could not leave without finding some purchases to be made. Another Pink Hill location celebrated their grand opening this month, Tower 110 is a gorgeous destination to consider for any event. We are so proud to include both as members of our growing Chamber of Commerce. The more we connect our business community together, the more success we will discover for Lenoir County when we work as one. Next Coffee & Conversation looks to the area of La Grange. Our hope is to keep this event moving around our County until we get everyone connected.
August continued to give us a lot to reflect on, especially for community impact.
Kennedy Home requested advocacy on their behalf, a service we were honored to provide. Kennedy Home has been a Lenoir County institution for over 100 years and is a ministry of Baptist Children’s Home of North Carolina. We have reached out to Representative Greg Murphy to urge his support with the passage of HR 3852- Create Accountable Respectful Environments (CARE) for Children’s Act.
In addition, we were excited to cut the ribbon on two new playgrounds for Jack Rountree and Mitchell Wooten Apartments. These were major improvements made by our Kinston Housing Authority, worthy of celebration. We know the kids wasted no time jumping onto those swing sets and slides, with photos to prove it. Then, our Business After Hours brought us to UNC Health Lenoir to celebrate their newly renovated Wound & Infusion Center that is ready to serve our community. The center offers two hyperbaric chambers, which helps the lungs to collect more oxygen. By doing so this improves the body’s ability to heal advanced burns or infections. We are grateful to the hospital for offering these services and so many more to Lenoir County.
We acknowledged Lenoir County’s extensive success in athletic achievement with our Business Connections Sports Edition. Our digital magazine offered highlighted looks into the history of Grainger Stadium and the newest inductee class to the Kinston-Lenoir County Sports Hall of Fame. Inductees that happen to include our previous Chamber President Craig Hill! A large congratulations to all inductees! The issue is definitely a must read and may be found at: https://chambervu.com/lenoirsummer23.
Learning opportunities this month helped us to explore the state and future of airfare in Eastern North Carolina, presented by Andrew Shorter, Airport Director of the Coastal Carolina Regional Airport. Later on in the month, our Power Luncheon addressed marketing effectiveness with Dick Broadcasting and Curtis Media Group. Two powerful topics to help our Lenoir County businesses to expand their opportunities, with more to come in September and October.
We are building up to our “Live, Work, & Thrive in Lenoir County!” Job Fair October 18th 9am-1pm at the Kinston Community Center. We ask everyone to follow our website, Facebook page, and newsletter for more details to come. In addition, we are starting to work on nominations for our Annual Awards Banquet, please look out for more information on those.
There is no doubt that our Chamber is alive, well, and incredibly active in Lenoir County. To think, this was just this month of updates, and we are not slowing down any time soon!
Where our Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce leaves off our organizations and programs pick up. Our Chamber effects more than many may realize. Each of our entities are actively engaged in our community in different aspects.
Our Chamber Ambassadors are involved in connecting with our business community through our membership. The program offers greater credibility to businesses while they find ways to expand our support for community businesses. Their efforts help to grow and improve connections with Chamber members. This is important because a healthy Chamber has a direct impact on an area’s economic prosperity. According to online resources chamber businesses are 40-50% more likely to receive patronage than their non-member counterparts. Our Chamber Ambassadors are a great example of this because by them connecting with members they grow their network and sales, while the businesses they visit get to as well.
Young Professionals go beyond the borders of membership to include ways to impact the overall outlook of economic growth. They support all Lenoir County professionals, especially young entrepreneurs seeking to grow a business in our area. Members are involved in service projects that will help push businesses further with some exciting examples on the rise. To achieve these projects, they will be hosting fundraisers throughout the year.
Next month will be their first fundraiser called “Not Your Grandma’s” 90s Music Bingo held at The Office located at 220 N Herritage St. The event will be Thursday, September 14th 6:30pm-9:30pm, it will offer a nostalgic flashback to all things 90s. There will be games, decade inspired dance, fashion competitions, karaoke, and so much more. Tickets to the event are only $5 per person and $2 per round of bingo.
Another fundraising opportunity on Thursday, September 14th is our Lenoir County Education Foundation Superball Golf Tournament 8am-4pm at the Kinston Country Club. This is the largest fundraiser of the year with all proceeds from the tournament going towards Lenoir County Public School Mini Grants. Teams have been filled; now accepting additional teams on standby. If you are interested in supporting the Superball Golf Tournament, please contact Judy Jones at 252-527-6352. Those Mini Grant Applications for 2023-2024 are now available on our website for any Lenoir County Public School educators looking to apply.
Neuse News is a locally-owned small business startup in downtown Kinston. Our goal is to provide free, hyper-local news to Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties. The kind of news our grandparents read in a format fit for today's times.
We provide this by having supportive advertisers and we encourage you to click on their ads, shop with them, and eat with them. Every bit of financial support is important to help us sustain free, hyper-local news.
Please consider supporting Neuse News with as little as $5 one-time or via a monthly option. Every little bit helps us, help you.
