Dear Members:
Thanks to all who sent their kind thoughts, well wishes and offers of assistance in advance of my June 21 right knee replacement surgery at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, and cards and food since. I have recovered well enough to spend time in the office every day this past week, but I look forward to a long weekend off in celebration of the Fourth of July.
Active Shooter Preparedness Training
On the heels of a Juneteenth mass shooting in Willowbrook, the Elmhurst Police Department trained more than 50 Elmhurst businesspeople on ways to prepare for an active shooter crisis—thanks to a joint partnership with the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce and Industry and member sponsors North Shore-Edward-Elmhurst Health and Superior Air-Ground Ambulance.
E-EH provided the Oak Room at Elmhurst Hospital as the venue, along with the food and beverages, while Superior Ambulance covered the cost for Chamber members to attend the June 27 breakfast event.
Colin Dalough, E-EH’s Community and Government Relations Manager, organized the safety education event. He also serves on the ECCI Board of Directors, Board Executive Committee (Second Vice Chair and Marketing Committee Chair) and Government Affairs Committee.
The 40-minute session by Elmhurst Police, which have done similar training sessions for faculty and staff at Elmhurst University and Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205, featured Chief Mike McClean and Commander Matt Himpelmann as crisis trainers.
Following the training session, Dalough moderated a panel discussion featuring Barney McGrane, E-EH’s System Director, Public Safety, and Kevin Kukulka, Superior Ambulance’s Director of Safety & Security, along with Chief McClean and Commander Himpelmann.
The roots underneath this training grew from the strong connection that E-EH, the City of Elmhurst and our Chamber all shared with their peers in Highland Park in the aftermath of last year’s deadly shooting during the village’s Fourth of July Parade through downtown. In October of 2019, the Hospital experienced a lockdown after a shooting in the parking lot.
E-EH life-saving resources were mobilized and emergency facilities in high use in response to the Highland Park shooting, new Highland Park Assistant City Manager Erin Jason implemented her training as Elmhurst’s Business Development to better address the crisis and ECCI rallied support to help the Highland Park Chamber of Commerce assist their effected businesses.
Multi-Chamber Hunger Action Luncheon
Supported by ECCI member Itasca Bank & Trust, our Chamber will stage a Multi-Chamber Hunger Action Luncheon—featuring Keynote Speaker Steve Dolinsky, an American television, radio, print and podcast food and travel reporter, and “The Food Guy” on NBC-TV Channel 5 in Chicago—at The Abbington in Glen Ellyn on Tuesday, August 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to promote food pantries across the western suburbs. Click HERE to register.
A portion of each ticket will be donated by the participating chamber to food pantries serving their municipalities, with the Elmhurst-Yorkfield Food Pantry benefiting from ECCI attendees.
Joining Presenting Sponsor Itasca Bank are Partnering Sponsors Duly Health and Care, also an ECCI member, and the DuPage Foundation.
‘Networking on the 9s’
“Networking on the 9s,” our Chamber’s 75th Annual Golf Outing, will be staged at Sugar Creek Golf Course in Villa Park for Friday, September 22, with a maximum field of 72 golfers teeing off in a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Members of Villa Park Chamber of Commerce also will participate. Click HERE to register as a golfer, sponsor and/or luncheon guest.
Happy Anniversary
Two members celebrated Chamber anniversaries in June as follows: 15 years—Clearing Chaos; and 5 years—UPS Store-City Centre.
New Members
Our Chamber welcomed eight new members in June: Alu-Bra Foundry, Dan Asher with @porperties, Geils Funeral Home, MA3 Insurance, Pike Lagree, Solstice Beauty, Vic’s Towing Company and W3Body, A Women’s Training Gym.
Reactivated Member
Villa Park Office Equipment reactivated its membership in June after a brief absence.
Dropped Members
The Chamber said goodbye to the following six members in June: Artis Senior Living, Currito, Hand and Stone Massage and Facial, LMC – The Fynn, Riley’s Gathering Place and Spinutech Web & Digital Marketing.
Deaths in the Chamber Family
Our Chamber family mourns the June 9 death of Gregg Markiewicz of The Stevens Group at the age of 68 following a year-long fight against cancer and, finally, a recent stroke. A member of the ECCI Board of Directors since 2018, he most recently served as First Vice Chair on the Executive Committee and Chair of the Membership Committee.
Illinois Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Todd Maisch died on June 1 at the age of 57. A Republican former staffer in the Illinois House of Representatives, he served the Illinois Chamber for the past 30 years and as President and CEO since 2014.
Our condolences go out to ECCI Director Scott LaMorte of Itasca Bank & Trust on the June 22 death of his father, Robert D. LaMorte, at the age of 75.
I regret to inform you of the June 20 death of long-time Chamber member Phil Greco, Owner and President of the former Odeum Sports and Expo Center in Villa Park, at the age of 67.