Paul Szmal: Welcome back to FLX Morning on Finger Lakes News Radio. It's 814. We're at 72. And don't forget, there is a heat advisory in effect for today. We're joined now by Amy Fuller, the Executive Director of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce for our monthly visit. Amy, good morning. How are you this morning?
Amy Follin: I'm good, Paul. How you doing?
Paul Szmal: Staying cool.
Amy Follin: There you go. Important thing to do today.
Paul Szmal: Let's start off by talking about the member of the month for the month of July.
Amy Follin: Yes, our member of the month for July is CAP, also known as Community Action Programs for Cayuga and Seneca County. They were chosen for our member of the month because they are celebrating 60 years this year. So they are a big, you know, they do so much in the community. And actually, we have a health navigator on staff here that works for CAP. And we have that person here. So it's convenient for people who need health insurance to come downtown. But it's a program that, you know, they had. So they, they do a lot, you know, they do a lot for people in the community. They have a closed closet at their location on York Street. And they just, they just do a lot of great things. If you go to their website, you could just, you know, they help families all through our community.
Paul Szmal: That's something that sounds like, that sounds like something that others may not have done before, having a chamber office with a health navigator on site.
Amy Follin: Yeah, when they initially came up with that, you know, the New York State of Health program there, it was, we had, we had a couple of navigators as a chamber in here. And then it was kind of reevaluated. And CAP now, you know, they get paid by CAP. And we hit, like I said, there's one at York Street. And then, you know, Wendy, who's our health navigator here, she's here most of the time, but there's times where she has to go, you know, to other places just for convenience. But people come in here, she's very busy, people come in here all the time with questions on their insurance, or they lost their job, and now they need insurance, or they're going, you know, she doesn't do Medicare, but she'll direct them to people that can help them, you know, like Office of the Aging and that. But, you know, she's a very good resource to have here, you know, downtown, so that she's accessible to people that may not have transportation. And that in turn exposes a lot of people to the Chamber of Commerce offices, too.
Paul Szmal: Exactly. They always are looking at the racks of brochures and stuff, and they look at them, and they say, can we take some of the stuff? Say, that's why it's there. We want you to take the stuff and go visit people. Let's go. So it works out to be a pretty good marriage.
Amy Follin: It really does. Yes, it does. Their Leadership Cayuga is recruiting for an upcoming class.
Paul Szmal: Yes, our Leadership Cayuga class, that starts in September, and Jessica Wrench, our education coordinator, heads that program, and she's in the midst of recruiting for the upcoming class. If you're a Chamber member, you get a discount, and if you commit to the program before August 8, you get another discount. So, you know, if you're interested in that, go to leadershipcayuga.com or call the Chamber office and ask for Jessica. She's already got quite a few people signed up for the September class. It's a nine-month program. They meet once a month for the entire day. She gives you the schedule. It's usually a Thursday. She gives you a schedule at the beginning so that you can plan, and they do all kinds of things. They talk about government. They talk about board governance. They talk about the different opportunities that are in our county. They do a bus tour at the end that goes from northern Cayuga County to the south. So, if you're new to the community or new to your position somewhere and you just want to get a better feel for what's around here, it's a great program to be a part of.
Paul Szmal: We're talking with Amy Fuller from the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce here on FLX Morning, and we have a special offer to tell people about in terms of Chamber membership.
Amy Follin: Yes, if you are not currently a Chamber member, as of July 1st, all of our memberships go half price for the rest of 2025. So, it's a great opportunity if you're like, I don't know if I would use a Chamber membership. It's a great opportunity to try it to see if it fits for yourself and your business or organization. And, you know, that gets you in the printed directory for 2026 that we do, and it also, you know, you can you'll start getting our emails which have all the networking events and our upcoming events. The next upcoming event for us will be the the annual dinner, but, you know, you'll get all the Business After Five information and stuff, and it's just a great way to kind of feel it out and see if it makes sense. And, you know, come December, it makes sense. You'll get an invoice to up it for 2026. If it doesn't make sense, you call me and say, you know what, I tried it and, you know, I don't have time to do this and I really, it didn't fit for what I needed. And that's totally fine. It doesn't work for everybody. We wish it did, but sometimes it doesn't.
Paul Szmal: As you said, this is a great way to try it and see if it fits. And the next event before we get to the annual dinner is the virtual auction that is coming up in September. I know this is always a big deal for you guys.
Amy Follin: Yes, and for, you know, some of our chamber members that have been around for a while, we used to do this at the dinner before COVID. And then once COVID hit, we made it a virtual event, and it actually, people like it better, and it does better. We always open it up the Friday before the annual dinner. It's all done online. And then we close it the day, day or two after the dinner, the Friday after the dinner. And it's eight days of bidding, and we usually get about 20, 25 items. So starting in a week or two, I'll start going out there and soliciting for donations for the auction. You know, we've had fire pits. We've had destination, you know, stays in Aurora and Skinny Atlas before. So we open it up to anybody who wants to give a donation to help support the chamber, and it's always a fun event. The best part is the last day when everybody's going crazy.
Paul Szmal: Oh yeah, I can imagine getting all those last minute bids in, yeah.
Amy Follin: No, it's a fun event. It's a lot of fun, and like I said, it's a good time of year because you can start your Christmas shopping.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, oh, that's a great idea right there. I hadn't even thought of that, but yeah, you're spot on with that because some of the stuff you're going to be able to get for a bargain deal compared to what you might pay for it for the suggested retail price, shall we say.
Amy Follin: Yeah, exactly. And we try to get a couple things that are kind of the popular item, you know, so it kind of entices people to take a look at everything, and if they only want the one popular item, they start bidding away.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so again, that is coming up. That opens just before the annual dinner, which is coming up in October.
Amy Follin: Yes, this is our biggest event of the year, and we have that in October at the Emerson Park Pavilion. We're going to kind of lock in everything in the next week or two, but we have a lot of sponsor opportunities for that, and it's just a great evening. You know, it starts out with a cocktail party, about for an hour, and then we open up the doors to the ballroom at the pavilion, and everybody has a, you know, assigned seat, and they sit at a table. We, this year, we're going to do a kind of a interesting program. We usually have just a little program, but I'll give you a little teaser. One of our Leadership Cayuga projects is going to be the theme for the dinner this year, so one of the projects from the class that just graduated in May of 2025, they're going to give us their presentation at the dinner because it fits with the theme that we want to do, so I'm going to leave it there so everything else is a surprise.
Paul Szmal: Ah, there you go. There you go, and if people want to take advantage of that half-off membership program that's happening throughout the balance of the year, what's the easiest way for them to do that, Amy?
Amy Follin: They can go to cayugacountychamber.com and go to the membership tab, or they can contact me at the office. I can scan in what they need, and we can, you know, get them an invoice and get them up on our website. Very, very easy.
Paul Szmal: There you go. All right, Amy, thanks so much. As always, we'll chat with you again next month.
Amy Follin: All right, you better take some time to have some ice cream this afternoon.
Paul Szmal: Oh, you better believe I've got ice cream in the freezer waiting for me when I get home. I think it's a great ice cream day.
Amy Follin: Yes, absolutely. It's 8 23 on FLX Morning.
