There is no better place in the world to be right now than in Miami Beach. Our city has so much to offer from fun in the sun, beautiful beaches, the greatest hotels, fantastic dining, outstanding shopping, and the most impressive arts and culture community. Why would anyone go anywhere else?
And we are so blessed to have what I believe is truly the greatest chamber in the world. I have been so fortunate to serve as your chair for the year and it has been incredible experience, both professionally and personally. I have made so many meaningful relationships from my involvement in our dynamic chamber for so many years and it never stops. Among my best friends are so many of the talented people that I have met directly through my involvement in the chamber over the past 15 years. Now, in my leadership role, I am so proud of the Chambers accomplishments.
Outside of providing great service to our membership and creating the best environment for the magic to happen, we continue to grow, produce more opportunities and give so much back to our great community. At the end of the day, it is all about community. Each year with our success we have been able to expand funding to our Miami Beach Chamber Education Foundation which provides greater support year after year to the city for the International Baccalaureate program. On top of that, with the support of our Executive Board, the chamber won the Aetna Voices for Health competition for $30,000, financial support of the program by the affected municipalities and was awarded $62,000 in a South Florida Health Foundation Grant, all of which was committed to provide healthcare providers in our feeder pattern schools. The Chamber set an unprecedented model by bringing together 15 organizations for this common goal to meet a critical need in the schools which we can only hope other communities will follow. By showing that the entire community was involved, matching dollars have now been provided by the Children’s Trust to ensure that each school will have a dedicated medical assistant this year.
I am so proud to be part of this great chamber. Thank you to all of the executive board, board of governor and pillar board members for your hard work and commitment to make sure that the success continues and to the membership for your continued support. And I want to recognize our incredible chamber staff who work tirelessly to maintain our programming day in and day out. Our community is better and stronger because of you!
