Paul Szmal: Making our regular monthly appearance on a different date is Amy Fuller, Cuyahoga County Chamber of Commerce. Her normal day would be Thursday, Thanksgiving day. We're off that day, so we're happy to be able to talk to her today. Good morning.
Amy Fuller: Good morning.
Paul Szmal: New Business of the Month, and this is, I've never been to Willard Chapel, and so when I heard this, I got on their website, Willard Memorial Chapel, it's willard-chapel.com. What a beautiful, beautiful church.
Amy Fuller: It is stunning. They're the Member of the Month for November. They're celebrating 130 years, and when we went there to do a Facebook Live with the Executive Director, Sidney Fisher, you know, I had been there a lot of times, but I hadn't been there in a while, and we walked into that chapel, and I'm telling you, it's just, it's breathtaking.
Paul Szmal: It's breathtaking. I didn't know all the history. A former theological seminary, one of the best examples of a 19th century building still standing in Auburn, and they do tours.
Amy Fuller: They do tours, and you know, you can reserve it, you know, for a wedding, obviously, you know, because it is a chapel, but it's just, you know, you just forget these beautiful, historic buildings that we are so lucky to have here in our county.
Paul Szmal: Small Business Saturday is the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a week from tomorrow, November 30th, and it's, you know, we look around, and everybody's doing Amazon, and they're doing Walmart, and everything, and that's fine. Those businesses deserve to exist, but the small businesses that are the backbone of our communities, the ones that we say, oh gee, you know, we're sad that they're gone. So if we support them, they won't have to be gone.
Amy Fuller: Right. It's just, you know, it's a day to celebrate and support small businesses, as you said. You know, they do a lot for our community. So, you know, if you go to a local restaurant, if you buy some gift cards for the holidays, you know, just keep in mind, I mean, we just have so many quaint little businesses that have been here a long time here in downtown Auburn. Sam's Shoe Service, Whiting's Paint Store, you know, we got these in all these great restaurants that surround us. So really keep these things in mind when you're thinking about your holiday things.
Paul Szmal: And when you go to the small businesses, there's a lot of expertise there. You mentioned a paint store. There's probably somebody that's been mixing paint for 35 years or something, and they've seen everything. They can, you can come to them with a question, you go, oh, nobody's gonna be able to help me with this, and they can.
Amy Fuller: Oh, absolutely. You go into Whiting's, and you tell them what your project is. They'll make the recommendations on the type of paint you should do, if you should prime it, if you shouldn't, you know. They have all the paint brushes, and all the things you need to get that project done. And yeah, you're exactly right. They have lots of knowledge, and you know, you don't always get that when you go into the big box stores.
Paul Szmal: I'm 26 days away from being 65, so I'm almost there. Medicare 101, you're having a Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, December 3rd, from noon to 1, free to chamber members. And of course, you know, Medicare used to be kind of simple. Now there's Part A, B, C, through Z, and donut holes, and all that kind of thing. So who's going to help us through all that?
Amy Fuller: Yeah, Sean Daley works for Hills Insurance, and he had one a couple weeks ago here. And he's going to host another one, because you know, the open enrollment is through December 7th. And so he's going to just, you know, try to, you know, make sense of all the different details you get from different places. And we host these a few times a year, because with, we have a health navigator in here that works for CAP, that she helps people with regular insurance. But she gets a lot of questions about Medicare, and there's really no local information about that. You have to call Social Security, or go on the ssa.gov. So, you know, we have Sean, and sometimes the people from Excel has come in, and really try to walk you through what you need to do. So, and it's a free workshop. And whether you're getting to the age where you need it, or you have a relative or friend, it's just good information to have. And it's a good time to ask questions of someone in person.
Paul Szmal: There's one of your member benefits. It's free to members. If you're a non-member, you can still go. It's $20, but you better sign up quickly. It's Tuesday, December 3rd, from noon to one, the next Lunch and Learn. And the holiday party details are out now. It's going to be at RICO Enterprises from 5 to 7 p.m. You left out what day, though. What day is it?
Amy Fuller: Oh, I'm sorry. Wednesday, December 4th.
Paul Szmal: There we go. And, you know, if you haven't been by the RICO building, it's down John Walsh Boulevard. It's that road next to Walmart out on Grand Ave. They have a huge facility out there. I went out there last December, actually, to do a ribbon-cutting for them. And they're a chamber member, and they offer to host our holiday party. So, they're going to have some tastings. They're going to have some, you know, some food. And that night, also, Weston Company, another local business, gave us a beautiful diamond necklace and earrings to raffle off that night. So, it's $20 a chance.
Amy Fuller: Wow. And the necklace and earrings together are worth almost $800. And if you're going, you're taking donations for the rescue mission. Things like Walmart gift cards are great. New unwrapped toys, games, board games, those kinds of things. You can drop those off at the chamber before December 4th.
Paul Szmal: Yes. And this is, we've had a long, long-time partnership with Rescue Mission at our holiday party. So, they come that evening and bring, you know, new unwrapped toys, toiletries, Walmart gift cards, wrapping paper, gift bags. You know, they could use it all. And, you know, a lot of us are very fortunate to have a wonderful Christmas, and we like to pass that along to people who are currently struggling. And they do a great job every year of, you know, coming in and getting that, you know, getting those things for those people that are in need.
Amy Fuller: I know a lot of businesses like to host the business after 5. Those fill up very fast. You're scheduling now for 2025, but I imagine that won't last for long. So, if someone wants to host, they need to call.
Paul Szmal: Yes. We've already got five or six scheduled for 2025. Yeah. So, you know, you host them at your business or organization. If you can't host it there for whatever reason, you know, we find you a partnership with somebody, or you're welcome to host something here at the chamber conference room. But we had exploding attendance this year. We are well over 400 attendees for 11 months. And there's a couple of months that we don't have them because of summertime and a regular event that we have. But, I mean, we had one in October with the Skinny Atlas Chamber. We had 90 people.
Amy Fuller: Yeah. Well, it's such a great social opportunity, but also a place to network. I mean, I always talk about these events. You know, somebody runs into somebody, and they're in the same business, and one's on the selling end, one's on the buying end or something, and they make a partnership. That's, you know, that's exactly right. I mean, there's so few times that you can interact with somebody face-to-face. And when you do that, that has the most impact. And that's why these continue to be so popular, because you're on your computer, you're on your phone, and you're sending emails and texts and all that stuff. But when you're talking to somebody face-to-face about what your business is and what you do and listen to them on what they do, you remember that. You remember that. And if you need those services, you connect with that person again.
Paul Szmal: So, we're at the time of the year where everybody tries to look into the crystal ball and see what the Christmas shopping season is going to look like. What do you hear from businesses locally, and how are they feeling going into the season?
Amy Fuller: Well, you know, as I said, going back to Small Business Saturday, just try to do things local first. You know, I know it doesn't always work out, but really give some local businesses a chance here and try to accommodate them for the holidays. And I did want to mention really quick, because we did talk about Rescue Mission. There's a couple other organizations, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, that help people during the holidays. They just built their thousandth bed for children in Cougar County, and they delivered it last night. So, if you want to help other people during the holidays, they take submissions of new bedding, and they have great partnerships with Lowe's and some other places for the wood. But if you want to help build, they're in the old KB Toy location in the Figure Lake Small. We went out there last week. They had about 40 people building. I got to brand a bed, because they put SHP on every bed, and I got to brand a bed, which was pretty fun.
Paul Szmal: Wow. That's a great program.
Amy Fuller: It is a great program. And to think that we take for granted going to sleep in a bed, and the pictures he has of these kids, they build beds for ages 3 to 17, and the pictures of these kids when that bed gets made with their new mattress sheets and comforter, you can't put a price tag on that. You really, really can't. And they do a great job. Over the holidays, we're going to have a tree here with ornaments where you can buy like twin bedding and things. And there's going to be one at Long Last Restaurant, the one out on Genesee Street, at St. Peter and John Church, and then Skinny Atlas Methodist Church, and then the Wheatsport Surefine Market. So if you see a tree with paper ornaments that say twin comforter, grab it. You can drop it off here or drop it off at Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Their information's on our member directory. But really try to, there's so many people in need. And a quick mention also to the Christmas Elf that CAP does. They helped over, what did they say to me? They helped over 540 families last year, 1,339 children.
Paul Szmal: Wow. What a great way to wrap it up. Amy Fuller, thanks as always. Appreciate the time.
Amy Fuller: Thank you very much, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving.
Paul Szmal: All right.
