Covid-19 forced the Chamber to cancel almost every cherished community event in Edmonds including our 4th of July parade and fireworks, Halloween, Car Show, Taste Edmonds and most recently our annual Tree Lighting event.

Without your help these events might have disappeared, forever.  And, without your help, after 113 years, so might have the Chamber.

We asked you to be “An Edmonds Kind of Hero” and help raise $100,000.  Not only did you help us meet this goal, you helped us exceed it by donating $107,700.  More than 609 individual donations were made, ranging from $2 to $10,000.

We also want to thank the volunteer Chamber Board for personally contributing one-third of this number as well as the Mayor and City Council for providing some much-needed rent relief.

The Chamber had a yearly operating budget of $275,000 which included a small staff of three to advance the work of the Chamber through events and direct support to businesses throughout downtown, the waterfront, along Highway 99, Westgate, Five Corners, Perrinville, and Firdale Village. The staff has been reduced to one person and is currently projected to remain that way through most of 2021, unless things change with Covid-19 restrictions.

We don’t know what the future holds for the impacts of Covid-19. But we do know that because of you, we will have a Chamber of Commerce in Edmonds in 2021.

The group of individuals who signed this letter came together as volunteers. Some of us were not members of the Chamber. Many of us did not know each other. We came together because we each felt strongly about the Chamber’s role in our community. To each of you who joined us through your donations, we say a heartfelt thank you.

Thank you to our Edmonds Kind of Heroes!  You didn’t just make a donation; you made a difference.  We look forward to once again joining you along with the 87,000 people who historically come together for our annual Chamber events.

Edmonds Chamber Task Force Members:

Brian Baird, US Congress (retired)

Will Chen, Will Chen CPA, PLLC

Patrick Doherty, City of Edmonds

Nancy Ekrem, DME CPA Group PC

Kelsey Foster, Click Studios Group

Joe McIalwain, Edmonds Center for the Arts

Maria Montalvo, Corvias Foundation

Mike Rosen, PRR (Retired)

Marilla Sargent, HomeStreet Bank

Rick Steves, Rick Steves’ Europe

Greg Urban, Edmonds Chamber of Commerce

Carl Zapora, Zapora Consulting, LLC

 

To support the Edmonds Chamber consider joining as a member or donating to the www.SupportEdmonds.com campaign.