Search Results for: FLEX

Week of Giving to Kick Off March 16


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Bridge Builders Community Foundations will hold the annual Week of Giving March 16 – 20. During the Week of Giving, donations can be given to one or many local organizations.

In the weeks and days leading up to the event, you can visit bbcfgives.org and learn about the organizations that match your philanthropic goals, with missions that most closely match what’s important to you, your business, or family.

Your gifts are enlarged by a match pool, provided by generous sponsors.  The website provides answers to frequently asked questions and, during the week, provides reporting of total contributions to each charitable organization.

We encourage you to consider a gift to the many organizations/funds making a difference in our region, including the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce Endowment Fund. Donations to our fund go towards the Be Here Initiative, FLEX Young Professionals, Leadership Venango, and more.

Make a donation during the week of March 16 – 20 at:

bbcfgives.org

This article was published in the Venango Chamber’s March 2020 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.

Chamber Welcomes Board Members


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David Snedden and Greg Plowman were approved as the newest members of the Venango Chamber board of directors at the February board meeting.

David is Branch Manager of the Seneca branch of Hagan Business Machines and previously served on the Chamber board from 2011-2017, holding positions of vice chairman and chairman. Several of the initiatives David helped to bring forth are still in use at the Chamber.

Greg is with Scierka’s Tavern in Oil City, which he owns and operates with his wife Andree. Greg and his family are great supporters of the Be Here program and have hosted FLEX events and a Chamber mixer at the tavern. Greg believes the Chamber is an integral part of our County and looks forward to helping further the Chamber’s mission.

Welcome David and Greg!

Leadership Venango Holds Fifth Session: Honorable Leadership


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The 2020 class of Leadership Venango met for their fifth session in February in Franklin to learn about local governance and honorable leadership.

The day began at the County Courthouse Annex with a panel discussion facilitated by Randy Arnold, 2019 Leadership Venango graduate. The panel included Jason Ruggerio (County Planning Commission), Mike Port (Cranberry School District board member) and Tracy Jamieson (manager of the city of Franklin). They were asked about their respective jobs including motivation and challenges, and gave advice on how to obtain similar leadership positions.

Next was Joseph Grunenwald, past President of Clarion University and an active community member. He spoke on what it means to be an “honorable” leader and traits these leaders have, including honesty, courage, long-term persistence, humility and doing the right thing even when it’s hard. The best leaders are forward thinking and put service above self.

The group walked to the Barrow’s Little Theatre for lunch and a discussion with the three County Commissioners. They discussed job responsibilities, challenges of the County, and their hopes for moving the County forward as united leaders.  They also encouraged questions and stated their open door policy of hearing constituents’ concerns. 

After lunch, members of the FLEX Young Professionals gave an overview of the group’s mission and activities and encouraged participants to consider membership.

Trenton Moulin, President/CEO of Bridge Builders Community Foundations, then gave a presentation on Boardsmanship.  He discussed the importance of serving on a board that lines up with personal values. As a future resource, he gave each member of the classa copy of the Handbook for Directors of Nonprofit Corporations in the United States of America. Prior to leaving, Zach Covington gave the class a tour of  the Barrow-Civic Theatre.

The last stop of the afternoon was to visit Judge Lobaugh and tour the Venango County Courthouse. Judge Lobaugh was a gracious host describing the history of the building and its contents. He exemplified the qualities of an honorable leader as it was clear he has devoted his career to child advocacy and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.  It was also clear that he had a passion and love for Venango County.

The next session will be in March at UPMC Northwest and will focus on “Leading a Healthy Community.”

This article was published in the Venango Chamber’s March 2020 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.

Why Recognize Young Professionals?


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As we are in the middle of planning our annual FLEX Presents event, recognition is on our minds. Why do we spend time and effort to recognize young professionals?

Giving to the community can be tireless. Spending hours volunteering and helping others includes large amounts of time and energy, but our communities depend on people being willing to do things they are not necessarily compensated for.

We recognize young professionals at FLEX Presents to provide:

  • Encouragement: It motivates those recognized to continue working hard and lets them know their efforts have not gone unnoticed.
  • Inspiration: It inspires other young professionals to follow in the footsteps of those being recognized, and can provide great examples of how to balance work, family, and community.
  • Acknowledgement: It not only inspires others, but shows that there ARE young people making a difference and being successful in our community. We often hear negative talk about young professionals leaving the area, and this event is a perfect example of how that is untrue.
  • Awareness: Recognition isn’t only about the individual, it sheds light on the causes or organizations that nominees are involved with, helping others to learn more about them and hopefully inspiring more people to get involved with local organizations.

Recognition is about coming together to inspire and uplift individuals, organizations, and the entire community.

We hope you’ll join us in recognizing young professionals at FLEX Presents on Friday, April 17, at Clarion University – Venango.

This article was published in the Future Leaders & Entrepreneurs Exchange’s (FLEX) March 2020 edition of the FLEX Your Ideas (FYI) Newsletter.