Spring has Sprung! As I write this, we have had two record setting days of warm weather. It is a beautiful day, and we have many more ahead of us. Coming up, we have the TOBAY Beach Car Show, so make sure you stop by and say hello, pick up some free gifts, and enjoy the weather and a day at the beach with fun, food, cool cars, and live music.
The two biggest events for our Chamber are coming up in June. First up is our 75th Anniversary Gala / Awards and Installation Dinner. We will be honoring our Businessperson of the Year, our Young Businessowner Award, our Top Member Recruiter, and our Sponsor Awards. I will also be awarding the President’s Award, and we will introduce our Father Tony Heinlein Memorial Community Service Award. The invitations will be going out next week, and we will be announcing the honorees shortly.
The Street Fair is the weekend right before the Gala, and we are already signing up more vendors than usual. It will be a fantastic event. If you have a small business here in Massapequa, it is a great way to get in front of residents from Massapequa and all-over Long Island. There will be live entertainment and amazing food vendors too.
The Networking Breakfast will be held on April 27th at 8:00am at CenterPoint Church, with Supervisor Joseph Saladino bringing us updates on what is happening in the town, and even providing news on pending legislation at the State level that will affect the Massapequas. I myself am very disheartened that the Governor is forcing our very own Massapequa Chiefs to give up generations of tradition – removing the mascot and changing the name that we have all proudly associated with the pride of Massapequa. Once a Chief, Always a Chief.
There is a Multi-Chamber After-Hours Networking Night coming up on Tuesday May 2nd at TD Bank (1354 Hicksville Road, Massapequa.) They hosted a great event in March and provided delicious refreshments. I made some great connections that night that are already leading to some business opportunities. Every businessowner is welcome to attend, regardless of where you are from or where you do business.
In addition to these great events, the Chamber is working on bringing even more information to our businesses and residents. We are aiming to hold a Career Fair, which will be free for Chamber members to host a table and meet job seekers. We will have a few seminars at the fair for our businesses to learn about recruiting and retaining employees, along with free career coaching for candidates.
Finally, I wanted to take this time to make everyone aware of the increasing sophistication of Cyber Theft. I recently received a text from our Treasurer, Janice Talento, asking me about an e-mail requesting that she pay a bill from the Chamber’s bank account. The thieves took my name as President, created a fake e-mail address, and gave her a link to a suspicious Venmo account to pay. Our Chamber has processes in place for any disbursement of funds, so she thought it looked like a scam and reported it to the authorities. There are so many schemes out there, so don’t just answer something like that and give anyone your payment information. If they are asking you to pay with Venmo, use a gift card as payment, or you aren’t 100% sure about who you are speaking to, report it to the authorities. We are trying to put together a seminar on this in the coming months.
Enjoy the Spring, and I look forward to seeing you at our next event!
Robert Zabbia, President
Massapequa Chamber of Commerce