Read Past E-News Issues

Interest is growing for the Chamber's fall Tuscany Trip. The Huntingdon County Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Kish Travel to host the trip November 1-8, 2012. Click here for information about the trip. 

This eight day, six night experience includes sightseeing in Florence, Montecatini, Cinque Terre, Siena & San Gimignano and Rome. Sights include the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Giotto's Bell Tower, the Accademia, Palazzo Vecchio, the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica.      

The $2,499 trip price includes bus transportation to JFK, round trip airfare to Italy (air taxes are included), hotel accommodations, a wine tasting, guided excursions, daily breakfasts, four dinners and admissions to the Accademia and the Vatican Museum. Among the three optional tours offered is the opportunity to partake in a three hour Tuscan Cooking Class where you will learn the basics of traditional Tuscan cooking as well as savour the foods you prepare.

U.S. Senator Patrick Toomey's Central Region Manager Joe Sterns came to Huntingdon to meet with a number of Chamber and HCBI leaders at the J.C. Blair Education Center on February 7, 2012.  He asked the group assembled for information about pressing issues for Huntingdon County.  The group discussed highway funding, national healthcare reform, and issues that get in the way of business development in Huntingdon County.  Mr. Sterns expressed the Senator's concerns for cutting the federal deficit, banking reforms, and eliminating earmarks and pork barrel spending.  He suggested that the Senator believes that in order to turn Pennsylvania around, we need to change the culture of term limits for elected officials, repeal prevailing wage legislation and enact a right-to-work law that frees employees from having to join unions to be employed. After the meeting, Mr. Sterns toured J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital, Bonney Forge and Mutual Benefit Group. He also met with Huntingdon County Commissioners and Juniata College administration. Mr. Sterns invited the Huntingdon County leaders to continue to share concerns with the Senator through his office and he shared his contact information. He suggested that anyone who has "Had Enough" with government contact Senator Pat Toomey through the website http://toomey.senate.gov/hadenough and the Senator will respond.

The Chamber's Government Affairs Committee met with Matt Brouillette, President of the Commonwealth Foundation, to discuss legislation affecting the business community and strategies to enhance the Chamber's working relationship with state and federal legislators. Among the items discussed were the loss of manufacturers to right-to-work states (Pennsylvania currently has no law to protect employees from being compelled to join a union and/or pay contributions to a union as a condition of employment), and the privatization of liquor stores (Click here to read the memo from the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry).      

If you are interested in showcasing your business, we invite you to host a Business After Hours. Host reservations are being taken for July and December 2012 and for 2013. If you are interested in being a host, please click here for the host reservation form and then fax that form to 814-643-1115. If you prefer to return your form by mail, please send it to the Huntingdon County Chamber of Commerce, 500 Allegheny Street, Huntingdon PA 16652. Chamber Membership Director, Mike Balchin will be in touch with you to discuss your event. Reservations are on a first come firsts served basis.   

One of the Chamber's many committees, the Main Street/Community Improvement Committee is looking for new committee members. Among the many things the committee works on include: the Community Improvement Awards in partnership with the Huntingdon County Planning Commission, Facade Grant Program, organizing workshops on topics such as historic preservation, and the Sidewalk Grant Program. The committee is also starting to investigate the feasibility of regaining Main Street Designation. 

The MS/CI Committee meets the third Wednesday of the month at noon at Hoss's and is chaired by Huntingdon County Planning Director, Richard Stahl. Please contact ymartin@huntingdonchamber.com if you are interested in joining the committee. You are also welcome to attend a meeting as a guest to try out the committee.

Any Chamber member is welcome to serve on any of the Chamber committees, with the exception of Administration & Finance, which is by invitation only. Committees are starting the goal process to develop goals for the period of July 2012 to June 2013. To see the list of committees, who chairs those committees and the current goals of those committees click here.

The Chamber has partnered with Hampton Publishing to launch our new online interactive map marketing program. Click here for a quick video introduction: http://mapsponsors.com/huntingdon/ Hampton Publishing sales representative, Frank Carney, has returned to the Chamber office after an auto accident and is now available to answer your questions.  

Our online Map is designed to deliver more exposure for your business and drive more opportunities to your location. To generate value for our member sponsors, a number of marketing positions are available throughout the Chamber's Interactive Map.

I encourage you to take advantage of this exciting marketing program and demonstrate your commitment to our community. By increasing your presence on the Chamber's web site you will enhance our Search Engine Optimization capabilities. Individuals and companies alike visit our website every day in search of local information about our community. They are looking specifically for businesses like yours. Don't miss out on this valuable opportunity! Contact Hampton Publishing's representative Frank "Art" Carney, here at the Chamber office via phone (814) 643-1110 or via email - ymartin@huntingdonchamber.com.

The ChamberChoice Energy Program launched a residential offer for Chamber members and their employees back in 2010, however, more recently ChamberChoice expanded the program to help stimulate local economies across the state by allowing all citizens to participate in the residential program provided by the local Chambers of Commerce. According to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's latest statistics, about 25% of Pennsylvania residents statewide have taken advantage of electricity deregulation for their home residence which creates a great opportunity for local communities to save through their Chamber's residential electricity offering.

"Our estimates show that if the residential subscribers in Huntingdon County currently paying the tariff utility default rates switched to the lower Chamber residential rate, over $450,000 annually could be put into the local economy," said Yvonne Martin, Executive Director of the Huntingdon County Chamber.

Residential homeowners interested in this program should visit www.ondemandenergy.com and click on the residential savings button. With a residential bill in hand, citizens can sign up online for the lower ChamberChoice rate in a matter of minutes. Homeowners may also call 1-866-699-9968 to speak to a program representative. Customers who choose to sign up for the lower rate will continue to receive one bill and the same level of service from their utility. Their utility company will continue to deliver the electricity, maintain the poles and wires, and respond to power outages. This offer does not apply to Valley Rural Electric customers.