March 10, 2021
The Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber and Cornerstone Alliance have held their annual Business Recognition Awards, saluting businesses and organizations that continued to thrive in the past year despite the pandemic. The event was held virtually Wednesday, and 17 businesses or organizations received awards. Looking at a few highlights, the Microenterpsie Award went to Forte Coffee, while the Small Business of the Year was St. Joseph Dentistry. The Economic Impact Award went to Wightman, the Non-Profit Excellence Winner was the Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency, and the prestigious Pat Moody Award went to Horizon Bank’s David Eifler. Speaking of Pat Moody, his Moody on the Market was the recipient of the Excellence in Pandemic Reporting Award, and speaking of the pandemic, the Community Guardian Award went to the Berrien County Health Department for obvious reasons. On a related note, the Community Hero Award went to Lake Michigan College for stepping
Annual Business Recognition Awards Held Wednesday wirx.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wirx.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
2020 Covid-19 Pandemic Response
Buy Local Berrien!
(new) – We launched the wildly successful Facebook group in March to encourage our community to support local throughout the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order. With over 11,500 engaged members, the group continues to move the needle for area businesses in their fight for solvency.
Buy Local Berrien Holiday Gift Guide
(new) – In the midst of a second shutdown, and following the success of our Facebook group, we launched a Buy Local Berrien Holiday Gift Guide and created a campaign to turn Small Business Saturday into Small Business
Season. Small businesses were able to submit their specials using a form and get listed on the newly created buylocalberrien.com. We also leveraged our partnership with Mid-West to launch a “buy local” radio spot co-voiced by Pat Moody and Arthur Havlicek.
Entrance to a foreign country often requires a passport.
In the age of coronavirus, entrance to schools, concerts, airlines – or anywhere else problematic for social distancing – eventually may involve a medical passport, or at least some sort of vaccination verification.
As things stand in Maine, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is focused on continued rollout of the vaccine rather than providing people with portable proof of having been vaccinated. The Maine Immunization Program issues a card along with the initial shot, primarily as a reminder to get the second dose.
Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC, said progress on a uniform solution is being made at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to avoid what he called a “piecemeal approach of a hundred different apps out there that purport to be able to verify your vaccine status.”