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Kennett Chamber holds annual banquet
The Kennett Chamber of Commerce held their Annual Membership Banquet on Thursday evening.
Christian Johnson, the chamber’s new Executive Director, didn’t skip a beat as he ushered in a new era of leadership.
“The chamber is always going to proudly serve the people of Kennett,” said Johnson. “We’re going to try and uplift the personal interests of its business, agriculture, industry, and we want to promote the civic interests that all of the organizations here want to do to bring forth great things for Kennett.”
Johnson continued, “We all have the same vision. If we work together to accomplish that, only good things can happen.”
Johnson went on to highlight recent accomplishments and looked forward to new opportunities.
Chase Burch, Branch Manager at UNICO bank, a co-sponsor of the event, along with FCC Behavioral Health, introduced the guest speaker for the evening, Cindy Rowe.
Cindy Rowe is a motivational speaker that centers her presentations around the importance of kindness.
With experience in sales, marketing, and organizational communication, Rowe shares evidenced-based strategies with companies, organizations, and schools that improve employee culture and impact the bottom line.
She is also the Founder and CEO of Be Kind Crew, a company that not only sells kindness merchandise, but also leads the movement to spread kindness all over the world.
“I hope to inspire you to be kind and collaborate with one another,” said Rowe.
During a dark period in her life a friend suggested she do random acts of kindness to help her feel better.
“After the third act of kindness I noticed a little shift,” shared Rowe. “I felt happy.”
Rowe continued, “My problems didn’t go away, but my perception of them changed. I realized that being kind makes me happy.”
During her birthday month of October, she decided to perform one act of random kindness a day.
“I was a busy professional, I had two kids, but I figured it out, because I felt this was going to be life changing,” Rowe said. “The person I was on Oct. 1 to the person I became on Oct. 31, are two different people.”
“Cindy, Oct. 1, was angry, bitter, and not fun to be around,” she added. “Cindy, Oct. 31, was fun, happy, light, and positive.”
“But guess what?”, asked Rowe. “None of my situations changed. I changed. I totally realized that things were going to be different.”
Rowe stated, “It does pay to be kind in business. It’s not about being soft or weak. It’s the idea that we are all humans.”
“Compassion, and kindness, and empathy, are the top sought after traits in leaders right now,” she informed.
“Kindness belongs in the workplace,” concluded Rowe. “Become a kindness ambassador. Together we can make waves of change through kindness.”
Other highlights of the evening included the awards ceremony.
Business of the Year was awarded to Cim-Tek Filtration, the most recent industry to locate in Kennett. Ward Billings was honored as Educator of the Year. Tina Brown was celebrated as Volunteer of the Year for her many civic efforts including the Gold Star family monument on the Square and spearheading the Just a Small Town Christmas event this past December.
Service Club of the Year went to the Adelphian Club recognizing their many philanthropic events.
The Banquet theme was Celebrating Cinco de Mayo, and the best table decoration was awarded to Baker, Welman, and Brown.
Puerto Jaivo catered the event and Elliot Wade provided the music.