It began nearly two decades ago as a way for the general public to get to know Chamber officers and directors and for those Chamber members to tell folks about the Chamber’s purpose and activities. Station Manager Jc Tinsley put the gas pedal down about 6 years ago and turned the annual Carmi Chamber of Commerce Radio Day fundraiser into an interactive radio auction. Carmi Chamber Secretary Toby Brown and Executive Director Holly Healy spoke about the upcoming event at Thursday’s weekly Kiwanis lunch.
Over the past several weeks, Chamber directors have been securing highly sought after items to be entered into the radio auction coming up March 19th from 10am – 1pm. Businesses who didn’t have a product or service to offer were still welcomed as sponsors of the event. Holly Healy and Tinsley will be meeting next week to take the list of donations and break them down into “lots” that the public will be able to bid on during the auction.
In between items being auctioned, Chamber members will be featured to talk about their businesses and current Chamber directors and officers will do some public education on what the Chamber is doing for the community covering everything from the CEO program to the White County Christmas and the scholarship golf tournament to the educator scholarships offered by the organization.
Healy says she’s often asked what the approximately $3,000 per Radio Day auction that’s raised goes towards. She said it mainly helps supplement the budget and meet donation requests such as the after prom party and Relay for Life just as a couple examples. They also use it in advertising programs for the other events the Chamber either puts on or is a participant in such as the Home and Garden Expo, another partnership with WROY/WRUL, which is coming up on April 16th and 17th.
In club business, Kiwanis had 4 visitors including representatives from Unique Personnel. They’re hosting a Hiring Event at the Carmi Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, March 16th from 12pm to 3pm. Additional information can be found at www.uniquepers.com.
Toby Brown won the 50/50 and members were reminded of upcoming dates of importance including the 4H Pork Chop fundraiser from 4p – 7p on March 19th at the White County Fairgrounds Floral Hall. Chris Myers thanked everyone for their help on
Pancake Day last Saturday, February 27th. Myers also passed around sign up sheets for club members to assist in cooking and selling Pork Burgers at the upcoming Doug Crawford Memorial Little League Tournament at Bradshaw Park. The club will also be cooking at Opening Day. Members were also reminded the Guardian Center’s annual Banquet is coming up on April 1st.
Finally, the Carmi Kiwanis Club officially grew by 1 Thursday by formally inducting Eric Rahlfs. He’s a broker with First Mid Illinois Bank in Carmi, a Chester, IL native and is married with 2 kids and another on the way. He becomes the club’s 76th active member.
