December’s Business After Hours Social was co-hosted by Exchange Bank and Cal American Water at the Exchange Bank Branch in the Larkfield Center. It was a wonderful event with a very nice turnout. There was a very nice spread of food and desserts prepared by Molsberry Markets as well as a variety of soft drinks, bottled water and a nice selection of wine.

I invited the President of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce, Kurt Mitchler, DDS to this event. When he came shortly after we were all enjoying good conversations, food, etc., he surprised us by bringing Santa Claus. This certainly added to the atmosphere. He was a big hit!

As, hopefully, all of you know, we have been having a great time with our various prize drawings. Cal American Water added twenty dollars to the “Pot of Gold”, making it sixty dollars for the winner - Tom Nunes of T & D Associates. The 50/50 Raffle was won by Jeanie Haddorff of Healthy Are We. Door Prize winners were Denise Brodt of Promos Oncall, Tony Lindstrom of Cal Am Water, Jim Bajgrowicz, Phillip Petersen of Wine Country Chauffeur and Dee Gutmann, VC Volunteer.

New members introduced were Phillip Petersen, owner of Wine Country Chauffeur and Maureen Merrill of Harris Merrill Communication Consulting. Each gave us a description of themselves and their respective businesses.

We wish to thank Tony Lindstrom and his staff for co-hosting this successful and very enjoyable event, and Laura Buhrer, Exchange Bank Branch Manager, all of her staff and executives for providing their office for this Social.

Mark your calendar for January 8, 2009, our next BAH Social. So many good opportunities to meet new people, network your business, and share a brief enjoyable time with established Chamber Members. It has been very good for me in my business...but you have to attend to get those benefits. Hope to see you there, and bring a guest if you’d like.

Have a Great New Year. If we all work together, we can make it a successful New Year.

contributed by Walt Smith, Past President, VP Business Services