It is with great pleasure that I write my last article for 2003. Not because I am tired of writing these little tidbits but because of the satisfaction that comes from looking back at our successes and triumphs during the past year. We have had so many people come forward and give to the Chamber this year and have grown to an all time record membership level. As all business people know the celebration is always short because we have new memberships or customers to attract and serve as well as members or customers that have fallen by the way side or quit doing business with us. I want to again kick-start the Chamber for the New Year. We need another 30% growth year and this will take some hard work and sacrifice but we can and will get there. Our General membership meeting is scheduled for January 7^th and will be the kick off for the year. So mark your calendars and plan on being there. We will install the new Board of Trustees and have the Chamber Committee VPs there to tell us about the programs for 2004 and offer you all a chance to get involved in the planning and implementation of these programs for 2004.

The Draper Area Chamber has some needs that would be great to find under our Christmas tree this year! We need a good used low volume copy machine that copies 15 to 20 pages per minute and a newer computer to replace our old 286. We also may need some remodeling or office sprucing donated, depending on where we manage to secure office space in the New Year. And you can always donate cash for any specific cause you feel would benefit the Chamber! The Draper Area Chamber is a 501A Non profit and donations are tax deductible as a business expense.

In closing, I want to thank all our members who come out and participate and all the members who renew their membership year after year as you are a true gift to the Chamber and our business community. As your President and CEO, I want you to know I am here to help you solve problems that come up or offer Ideas or simply give feed back. My many years of business experience are available to our members. I would like to publicly express my appreciation to our Board of Trustees and their dedication to our Chamber. Our out-going Chair (Dr. Mark Vosti) deserves lots of thanks and credit for his hard work and diplomacy this past year. Mark has been a great support for me this year and always managed to have the often-needed encouraging word at the right time to keep me from becoming discouraged. Thank you Mark, you are wise beyond your years. I would also like to thank and welcome our incoming Chair Laura Nordfelt. Laura is a real cheerleader and quality leader for our Board and Chamber. She is very creative and quietly produces great work. Her leadership will allow the Draper Area Chamber of Commerce continue its race to greatness!

If you are not currently a member or have let your membership lapse make a resolution to be a part of this winning team in 2004.

Sincerely,

William E. Rappleye

President and CEO

Draper Area Chamber of Commerce

Historically, it has been proven that mankind’s greatest accomplishments are achieved through teamwork. Mount Everest, men on the moon, even the settlement of Utah – each great achievement accomplished through teamwork.

The Draper Chamber is a team that has accomplished great things this past year, and our goals are even greater for this upcoming year. One of these goals is to facilitate opportunities for co-marketing programs.

The best example of successful co-marketing is right here on our doorstep: the Healthy Draper Program. Many local businesses have participated in this program and the results have been tremendous for everyone. The Healthy Draper program brought businesses together in a way that gave every participant excellent marketing exposure, name recognition, community goodwill, and direct selling opportunities.

I invite all businesses to come to the table and brainstorm, develop and participate in co-marketing programs. When we come together with our brains, energy and marketing dollars, we can accomplish so much more together, than we can alone.

So let’s get together and DO IT! Call me or email with your ideas, suggestions and your desire to participate. You can reach me at The Cozy Home 571-0069 or mfoster@speakeasy.net.

Idea 1: Welcome to Draper Gift Bags

According to the Planning Commission, we currently have 7 new families moving into Draper each week. These are 7 new families, moving from another city, not people moving within Draper.

To take advantage of this marketing opportunity, The Cozy Home has partnered with Suncrest Development to provide Welcome to Draper gift bags for each new family moving into a Suncrest home. This is a marketing plan that is already in action, and welcoming new business participants.

Each gift bag includes small gifts and marketing pieces from numerous local businesses. Each decorative bag includes a Welcome tag and ribbon tie-up. Suncrest distributes one bag per home at the time of move-in.

Businesses with a consumer market benefit from this direct marketing piece. We also invite real estate and property management companies to participate by providing our Welcome Gift Bags to their clients.

If your business would like to participate, please contact Melody Foster at The Cozy Home for details.

Idea 2: Marketing Campaign to Encourage Draper Residents to Spend their Dollars in Draper

This idea is fledgling and looking for the right contributors and participants to help it mature. However, the concept is to develop a complete marketing campaign that will encourage Draper Residents to spend their money in Draper businesses – at both consumer and commercial levels.

Perhaps, one idea would be to pool advertising dollars from many businesses to reserve a full-page ad in the Draper Paper for several months. Then develop a marketing campaign for that space. We would also add additional components to the campaign: events, posters, contests, etc.

This needs serious fleshing out, but let’s get it together! Call Melody Foster at The Cozy Home at 571-0069 to submit ideas, express participation, or support.

Anyone who has listened to the news during this past month is aware of a tragic situation in Florida involving a woman who has been on life support for many years as a result of injuries she suffered in a serious automobile accident. Her husband and family have recently been involved in widely publicized arguments over whether her life support can be terminated and she can be allowed to die. The Florida legislature even got involved and passed a special statute allowing the governor to intervene in the situation. This current argument between family members and the governor has resulted from the fact that the woman left no written statement of how she wanted this situation to be handled.

Chamber Members: One of the great opportunities you have to use your Chamber membership to make a difference is by participating on the Chamber's government affairs committee. Any member of the Draper Chamber may participate by simply signing up! Together, we can be a voice for the business community that will make a difference with our city government. We don't try to speak for the business community as a whole, but we do try to encourage our members to get involved with in the governmental process and be heard. Based upon our experiences this past year, we know that our city leaders value and hear the input of our members. I have heard several comments from members of the City Council and our Mayor expressing their appreciation for our support and input. This is another opportunity for you to C'MON AND GET CONNECTED with your city government. Anyone interested in participating on the committee can let me know by emailing me at rmblaw@mstar.net.

I would like to extend a warm thank you to all of you who attended the Business After Hours Event hosted by Key Bank.

For those of you who were unable to attend, I'd like to give you a recap of the evening.

Catering was provided by Cuisine Unlimited. They did an exquisite job of transforming the bank into a beautiful social setting.

Four cocktail tables, draped in black table linens, adorned with votives and rose petals on top of glass mirror, were scattered throughout the lobby. Along the west wall, two long buffet tables were beautifully engulfed in delicious foods and elegant centerpieces. Several vases of gorgeous white, peach and multi colored tangerine roses were placed at various locations. The bar was set up on the opposite side of the room serving bottled water, soda, wines and beers.

Introductions of the Draper Key Bank staff were made which included Julie Theriault, Relationship Manager/Sales, Nancy Terry, Operations Manager, Sandra Montano, Sales & Service Associate, Trisha Nielsen, Vault Teller and Shaun Goodarzi, Teller (who was unable to attend). Ray Pollmann, Utah District Retail Leader, George E Redd III, Southern Area Sales Leader, Rick Leetham, Northern Area Sales Leader were also in attendance.

We were privileged to have three excellent guest speakers. Mayor Darrell Smith followed by Bill Rappleye, Draper Area Chamber President and Chief of Police, Arthur "Mac" Connole. All were very informative and warmly received. Our appreciation for their time and support goes out to each and every one of them.

Throughout the evening, business cards and numbers, corresponding with numbered turkeys on the floor, were drawn for door prizes. The lucky winners were, Mary Rappleye, Archive Solutions; Lynn D'Avolio, Suncrest Development; Terry Blackburn, Terry's Therapeutic Touch and Marge Koch, Draper PD. We would like to acknowledge and thank Chrisanne & Garret Sueltz, owners of Studio 603, for donating one of the door prizes.

The evening was a success! Attendance was somewhere between 40 to 50 people. Not as many as we'd hoped but more than expected for the first go 'round.

If I were to change anything about the evening, it would be to have more time for socializing and more people to do it with.

These events don't need to be in the same fashion that Key Bank chose. Next one could be flip-flops and Hawaiian shirts. Who cares? The main thing is to JUST DO IT. Draper City business owners need to unite to make this one of the best little cities in the state. And together with the help of our City Leaders, it can become a reality.

Again, to all of you who were able to attend, we send our thanks for making this night a success.

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ccurtis@hwlochner.com

A special advertising project is in development with The Draper Area Chamber of Commerce and The South Valley Journal to support or struggling business in the 12300 Construction corridors. It will be called "The Construction Zone Value Pages".

The idea is to have a header that would promote coming to the construction zone to save money and support Draper’s vital businesses.

If you have any questions, please call:

Boyd Petersen

The Valley Journals

801) 580-3310

Jan: Fitness Assessments: Get your fitness tested, cardiovascular, strength, body fat, spinal screenings, gait measurements, eye screening, flexibility testing, plus, meet local health professionals and bring your questions.

ADDED: Ask a doctor, ask a dentist, ask a pharmacist!

* Bone density, metabolism testing, and cholesterol testing all have a minimal fee. (If we add these activities.)

Children’s Activities: Sportsman Challenge

March: Fitness Workshops: Come choose some of your favorite topics and learn more about them such as: yoga, nutrition and popular diet forepaws, cardiovascular and strength exercises, stress managements, Pilates, training for any ages, and much more.

May: Run/walk workshop: Enjoy the beautiful outdoors in the springtime with a fun walk/run workshop. Walk or run to the finish line for some great prizes. Come and meet the sponsors of Healthy Draper. Time and place TBA.

July: Join in the Draper Days fun festivities and bring the entire family for a fun family night out at Draper Pool. Come play games and swim with your neighbors and friends.

Sept: Walk, run, bike, or skip on Drapers Porter Rockwell with Draper’s Mayor Darrell Smith. Come talk and eat breakfast in the park after with the Mayor and City Council members. Learn more about what’s going on in the community while enjoying a beautiful fall morning.

Dear Chamber Member,

The Draper Chamber of Commerce, Draper City, and the Healthy Draper committee would like to thank all the sponsors for their time and effort on behalf of Healthy Draper 2003. The Healthy Draper 2003 events where a success because of professionals like yourselves; and because of the tremendous interest in 2003 we will continue with Healthy Draper in 2004.

The Healthy Draper 2003 was a fun filled year of a variety of fitness and nutritional workshops, seminars, and assessments. The events were able to educated and change many of the participant’s lifestyles. The volunteer efforts on the sponsor’s part have been crucial in assembling such a wonderful program for the community. We had over 400 Draper City residents who participate over the year with Healthy Draper, and many were repeats through out the year.

One of the most often heard responses from participants was how wonderful it is to have local health care and fitness professionals in the area giving free advice, hands on attention, and information. " I really appreciated all the effort that goes into theses events…all the local health care providers I have met have been wonderful, now I will call them when I need glasses, or other services because I have met them." Betty Sutcliffe Draper resident and participant of Healthy Draper.

As a sponsor you have the opportunity to be more than a name in a phone book. Those that make themselves available at theses events are not only giving back to the community that supports them, they are also building relationships that translate to new customers.

Healthy Draper 2004 is just around the corner. Next years events will begin in January and will be held every other month instead of monthly. The committee has a plan for next year, but in order to finalize the year’s event, we need to know where you feel yourself or your company would provide the greatest asset to Healthy Draper. Sponsorship for Healthy Draper includes the following: