TACOMA-PIERCE COUNTY CHAMBER
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  • Join Today
    • Join the Chamber
    • Online Membership Application
  • About Us
    • What We Do >
      • Advocacy
      • Leadership
      • Relationships
    • Our Programs >
      • Candidate Academy
      • Business Leadership Academy
      • Manufacturing Industrial Council for the South Sound
      • Spaceworks Tacoma
      • Pierce County Business Accelerator
    • Our Partners >
      • Downtown Tacoma Partnership
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • Ambassador Team
    • South Sound Business Leaders
  • Members
    • Member Portal Information
    • Login to Member Portal
    • Member-to-Member Deals
  • Events
    • Happy Hour Business Expo
  • Resources
    • News & Updates
    • Sound Track Podcast
    • Pierce County Economic Index (PCEI) Report
    • Annual Impact Report
    • Kiva
    • Advertising & Sponsorships
    • Tacoma Business Climate Survey
  • Directory

May 2024 Ambassador Highlight: Bob Hays

5/23/2024

 
The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber is very grateful to have our wonderful ambassador team. These Chamber ambassadors are an extension of the Chamber staff, allowing our members to have more points of contact. We want to highlight each ambassador as a 'thank you' for their continued support and dedication that they put into the ambassador team.

We asked each ambassador a set of questions in an effort to become better acquainted and get a preview of their life outside of ambassador work. Our first highlight is the one and only Bob Hays.​

Life as an Ambassador
​
Bob has been a loyal ambassador for six years, even being Chair of the ambassador team for four of those years! When asked about his favorite aspect of being an ambassador, Hays said, “It is hard to pick just one area, as helping others involves every facet of the ambassador program. However, the mentee opportunities are probably my favorite. To see the excitement in a new member to the Chamber, when they become aware of all the ways that the Chamber can benefit them and help them grow their business is so rewarding.”
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Life Outside of Being an Ambassador
​
If you have ever attended a Chamber event, you most likely have met Bob yourself. He is a very outgoing and bubbly guy, often seen with his partner-in-crime wife, otherwise known as Patty. The Hays’ have been together over 44 years; 10 of which they lived on a boat! Bob enjoys boating when he is not busy with his work, both as an ambassador and as the President at LegalShield.

At LegalShield, Hays helps people and companies gain affordable access to quality law firms. He also is heavily involved in Toastmasters, the U.S. Power Squadron, his church, and full circle back to his favorite pastime, boat training.


Hopes for the Ambassador Program
​
Bob is looking forward to seeing the ambassador program grow and evolve: “I would like us to have about twenty involved and engaged ambassadors, so we can better assist not only new Chamber members but existing ones as well. With twenty to twenty-five active ambassadors, we could reach out to a few existing members each month to see how they are doing and how we can help them get more value from their membership.”

In the meantime, Bob finds being an ambassador to be involved, rewarding, and satisfying, if he had to use three words to describe it.
Connect with Bob

If you are wanting to meet Bob or seek his wisdom about the legal system, you can reach him at his email address, which perfectly captures his boating lifestyle: 
[email protected]. ​
EMAIL BOB

Learn More About the Ambassador Program

​Interested in learning more about what it takes to be a Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber ambassador? Learn more here.
LEARN MORE

Take Advantage of ‘Members Only’ Low-Cost Advertising Options

5/23/2024

 
Chamber Membership has its perks! Advertising on the Chamber’s website and in our weekly e-newsletter is limited to active Chamber Members.
​Check out these low-cost advertising options to get your brand noticed:

Website Ads
With 14,800+ monthly page visits, web ads are a great opportunity to get the most out of your advertising investment.

E-Newsletter Ads
Distributed to 5,000+ subscribers each week, e-news puts your products and services in front of the people with whom you want to conduct business.

Podcast Commercial Spots
The Chamber's podcast, Making It in the South Sound, is making an impact! The series has 2,500+ listeners each month and is growing. Advertise on the podcast by having a 15-second spot read by the host, on an episode, or series of episodes.

Event Sponsorships
​​Highlight your products and services at one of our recurring events. Choose the demographic you want to reach to maximize your investment.

Social Media Story Ads
Promote your event or services through the Chamber's Instagram and Facebook stories and expand your reach!
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Put your message in front of thousands of qualified South Sound B2B contacts and advertise with the Chamber today! For more information, contact Emily Cook, Director of Membership and Development: [email protected].
GET YOUR BRAND NOTICED

RECAP: Pella Windows & Doors Ribbon Cutting

5/22/2024

 
“Invest in your community and your community will invest in you."

This motto is what owner, Kieth Dashofy, of Pella Windows & Doors follows every day. A Tacoma native, Dashofy knew he wanted to expand Pella into the Grit City when faced with the incredible choice of expansion. With a showroom in Bothell, which serves Seattle, Bellevue-Eastside, Sammamish, Everett, and Mount Vernon, the Pella team was ecstatic to travel South into Pierce County to offer their services.

As the full name implies, Pella is a windows and doors installation company. The Chamber was excited to celebrate the opening of the new Tacoma Showroom on May 16th! The new showroom has an array of door styles, window frame selections, and even a stocked mini fridge of the teams’ favorite beverages.

Keith was beaming with pride during his ceremony speech and expressed his gratitude for having an excellent team behind him. He is looking forward to connecting with his fellow Chamber members, so be sure to seek him out at future Chamber events to exchange business cards.

Whether you need new windows, doors, or want to make new Pierce County connections, you should take a trip to the new showroom to say 'hi' to the Pella team and wander through their product offerings. You will find yourself entertaining the thought of remodeling the kitchen windows that you’ve been putting off for years!

Website: https://www.pella.com/locations/wa/tacoma
Phone: (253) 563-3339
VISIT WEBSITE
CALL TACOMA LOCATION

RECAP: May 2024 Chamber After Hours

5/22/2024

 
May’s Chamber After Hours was hosted at the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber office. We look forward to welcoming our members and partners to our office each year for an After Hours event to network, see where we work, and learn more about the Chamber and programs we offer!

Attendees enjoyed charcuterie style bites, music playing from the Chamber’s playlist, and a slideshow featuring photos from our events over the years. At each desk, there was a one-sheet bio highlighting each staff member - a fun way to introduce ourselves to our guests and put faces to names! These bios listed their role at the Chamber and what that entails, along with a summary of their life outside of work.

Later on in the evening, Andrea Reay, President and CEO of the Chamber, as well as Jon Rossman, owner of Chuckals Office Products and Chairman of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, thanked everyone that took time out of their night to join us at Chamber After Hours. The winners of the giveaways were also announced, and two lucky attendees won a gift basket graciously gifted by Chick-Fil-A, and tickets to a Rainiers baseball game. Overall, the night was spent in great company, with great food, conversations, and connections! 

June 2024 Chamber After Hours

If you were unable to attend this month’s Chamber After Hours, join us at the next event on Thursday, June 13, at Chambers Bay Golf Course. This is a special After Hours because we are partnering with the City of University Place/Partner UP to carry out this networking event to bring together business owners in University Place! Attendees will enjoy the beautiful views of the Chamber's Bay Golf Course while snacking on delicious food, sipping refreshments, and mixing with the amazing company. ​
REGISTER FOR JUNE AFTER HOURS

RECAP: April 2024 New Member Mixer

5/21/2024

 
In April, we welcomed new and current members to our office for a New Member Mixer!
 
This event provided attendees a chance to learn about the benefits of a Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber membership in an Open House style format. Activities included learning more about Chamber programs and partnerships, such as Spaceworks Tacoma, World Trade Center Tacoma, and Downtown Tacoma Partnership.
 
Members mingled with Chamber staff, ambassadors, and fellow members over drinks and catering. It was a wonderful evening connecting with members and building relationships!
 
Our next New Member Mixer will be in September (9/24/24) and registration is now open. We hope you’ll join us to meet new members and celebrate our growing business community!
REGISTER FOR SEPTEMBER MIXER

RECAP: 321 Buddy Fundraising Ribbon Cutting

5/16/2024

 
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321 Buddy Fundraising celebrated the grand opening of their resource facility - ’A Place for Me’ - to a crowd full of smiles, love, laughter, and even some happy tears on the 14th of May.

This resource facility is a home away from home for families in the Down Syndrome community. With colorful meeting rooms, toys galore for all age groups, and even a spot for teens to hangout, the building certainly makes you feel happy to be there. While the fun toys and murals are amazing, what is even more amazing is the reason behind the establishment. It is meant for relationship building, a safe space for families to gather, and for group activities to take place.

​
Executive Director, Alisha Viela, highlighted some of the incredible work that 321 Buddy Fundraising has done, including their annual Pierce County Buddy Walk. This year’s walk will take place on October 5
th, at Franklin-Pierce High School from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Throw on your walking shoes and flower crowns because this year’s theme is peace, love, and inclusion and it is giving all the 60’s vibes! This walk is to make a vision reality: a world where individuals with Down Syndrome are empowered with access to vital resources for education, programs nurturing their potential, and a supportive community advocating for their rights.

You can learn more about 321 Buddy
Fundraising, and the work they are doing every day on their website!


Website: https://charity.pledgeit.org/321Buddy
Phone: (206) 353-9931
VISIT WEBSITE
CALL

RECAP: Vera Whole Health Ribbon Cutting

5/16/2024

 
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Tacoma welcomed a new business to its city on May 14th, Vera Whole Health!

This advanced primary care facility is meant to really put the patient first, and leave them feeling heard, supported, and confident in the care they received. While being the only primary care provider to have received two validations, for population health cost management and for health outcomes, Vera Whole Health is truly one of a kind.

At the ceremony, the morning started with networking over coffee and a delicious breakfast spread, followed by the main event, the cutting of the ribbon. With words given by Andrea Reay, President & CEO of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber; Tacoma’s Deputy Mayor John Hines; Don Trigg, CEO for Vera Whole Health; and Kevin Wang, the Chief Medical Officer for Vera Whole Health, the ribbon was cut in front of an excited audience.

Guests were toured
through the deceptively large office, which has multiple care rooms, private meeting/consult rooms, a full-service prescription medicine dispensary, virtual care rooms, and more.

The care team at Vera Whole Health are eager to accept new patients here in Tacoma. They meet each day before their shift begins to review the plan of attack and every detail for their patients’ visits.

If you
are looking for a new primary care team that strives to provide great customer service and care at a great price, be sure to contact Vera Whole Health in Tacoma! 

Website: 
https://www.verawholehealth.com
Vera Whole Health Tacoma - Phone: (253) 999-5501
VISIT WEBSITE
CALL VERA HEALTH TACOMA

5 Ways to Utilize Your Chamber Member Portal

5/13/2024

 
Do you know all the different tools available to you in your Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber member portal? From sharing exclusive member-to-member deals to promoting company events, there are several ways you can take advantage of these marketing tools as a Chamber member!
Here are five ways to utilize your member portal:
​

1. Share Events
  • Add your own event and invite Chamber members.
  • See what new events are happening with other Chamber members.
  • Find out what events are coming from the Chamber.
  • ​See your log of events you have previously attended.

2. Post Press Releases
  • Inform the public about your happenings.
  • Share exciting news!

3. Post Job Postings
  • Add job opportunities or internships.
  • View other job opportunities from fellow member businesses.

4. Update Contacts
  • Update your staff/employee contacts.
  • Make connections with other Chamber members.

5. Promote Deals
  • Give Chamber members a chance to experience your highly sought after business.
  • Receive discounts to products, services, and more.
  • Expand your point-of-sale reach!
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Need a refresher of this exclusive member benefit? Check out the member portal, reach out to your membership representative, or email Emily Cook (Director of Membership and Development): [email protected].
VISIT MEMBER PORTAL
EMAIL EMILY COOK

RECAP: HIVE Co. Ribbon Cutting

5/13/2024

 
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Spaceworks Alum and Chamber member, HIVE Co., celebrated their grand opening in April at 5436 S Tacoma Way, Tacoma, WA 9840. HIVE Co. is small maker, small batch vibes “gift” shop.
 
Founder, Michele Jones, created a place where vendors, artists, and makers can sell wholesale, lead workshops in the specially designed gathering space or participate in a vendor pop-up market. Be sure to check out what’s going on via the event calendar available on their website.

Congratulations to Jones on this achievement and be sure to visit HIVE Co. to peruse all their goodies!
VISIT WEBSITE
Photo credit: Roses and Pine Photography

2024 Environmental Excellence Business Award Winners

5/7/2024

 
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On May 3, 2024, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Communities for a Healthy Bay, and Port of Tacoma partnered to launch a new annual award program designed to recognize local Pierce County business that demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to environmental excellence and sustainability in our region.

Congratulations to the following winners:

Environmental Excellence Business Innovation Award
Winner: Aquagga
Aquagga is a cleantech startup firmly headquartered in Tacoma, developing portable, containerized systems that safely and cleanly destroy PFAS "forever chemicals" with zero emissions or toxic byproducts. Aquagga is currently engaged with projects sponsored by the DoD to bring their "HALT" PFAS destruction technology to market and are one of the world's leading PFAS destruction companies.
Aquagga just completed their second commercial-scale PFAS destruction demonstration project.

Aquagga is working with the City of Tacoma and the University of Washington Tacoma on a PFAS removal and destruction demonstration project at the City's wastewater treatment plant, a first-of its-kind.
                             
Environmental Excellence Business Award
Winner: Radius Recycling

Radius Recycling operates 54 metals recycling facilities, including 7 shredding operations, and 3 with deep water access on the West Coast. They also own 50 auto dismantling and retails stores, and a state-of-the-art electric arc steel mill that produces finished steel products made from recycled ferrous metals. 

In Tacoma, Radius Recycling has recycled 592,303 tons of ferrous metals and 28,245 tons of non-ferrous metals in the last year. This supports new infrastructure projects and low-carbon, metal-intensive technologies such as wind, solar, and electric vehicles. In January of 2023, Radius was ranked #1 on Corporate Knights’ 100 Most Sustainable Companies and Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies. Radius Recycling is also a proud contributor in Tacoma Public Utilities Evergreen Options Program Radius is committed to a future with less waste, turning old into new, and supplying the essential materials for critical industries to foster more resilient communities.

Honorable Mention: LRI: A Subsidiary of Waste Connections
LRI owns and/or operates seven waste disposal facilities in Pierce County. The LRI Landfill collects over 5,000 Standard Cubic Feet per Minute of landfill gas. Gas is piped to a Landfill Gas to Energy Facility that creates enough power for 4,000 homes.
​

The Hidden Valley and Purdy Compost Facilities receive nearly 100,000 tons of yard waste from throughout Pierce County per year. It is transformed into certified organic compost!
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950 Pacific Ave. Suite 300
Tacoma, WA 98402
​Phone: (253) 627-2175
​
Fax: (253) 597-7305
[email protected]
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