Bloom, who assumed her position as director last August, has accomplished a lot in her current position.
Over the past six months, Bloom said one of the Chamber’s (and her own) biggest accomplishments are presenting four to five new chamber members at the monthly board meetings.
“I focused a lot when I first started on the Curwensville area, because I am a Curwensville native,” said Bloom. “I definitely wanted to get the Curwensville businesses more active and involved.”
One continuing challenge Bloom said the Chamber faces is members not utilizing the benefits that the Chamber can offer its members. The advertising, member events and opportunities are endless, and some members don’t take full advantage of them. They, according to Bloom, pay their yearly membership fee but don’t really take the time to reap the benefits.
“By becoming a member, there are a lot of different benefits than just being on our web site and being called a Clearfield Chamber member,” Bloom said. “So I feel like it’s difficult to make all the members see. Because there are more than 350 of them so far, there are more advantages that they aren’t using and should be using. Some of the things members could utilize a lot are after-hours, Chamber discount cards and using the newsletter to advertise.”
Being new, Bloom said, she wants to not only help new members of the Chamber, but also continue to reach out to the existing members. Bloom encouraged those who have a milestone anniversary, upcoming events or anything of that nature to reach out to her and allow her to be the liaison to relay the information to the community.
The 4th annual Wing Fling this year was Bloom’s very first official event as director of the Chamber, as well as her biggest accomplishment in the past six months. Another big accomplishment was reaching out to community members and increasing membership of the Chamber.
“My goal for the Wing Fling was to get more sponsors,” Bloom said. “I also wanted to secure more participants and make it a little different from last year, so people aren’t expecting the same thing from year-to-year and then they’ll want to come back.”
Bloom secured 13 sponsors for the 2012 Wing Fling and one more restaurant participated.
Another goal of Bloom’s was to start a new fundraising event for the Chamber, which is currently being planned for Nov. 14 at Lock Haven University-Clearfield Campus. The new fundraiser will be a media auction. These media packages will be auctioned off to the highest Chamber bidder. Bloom said it will not be the run-of-the-mill advertising mediums like radio, television and newspapers.
“We’re trying to think outside the box to really attract people,” Bloom said. “The Chamber is going to reach out to the traditional media, such as newspapers, television and radio, but also other avenues, such as photographers and wine companies as well.”
Bloom said she wanted to think of a new event, to bring new membership opportunities and something fresh to the Clearfield Chamber.
Another addition Bloom brought to the Chamber the past six months was a ‘Cooking with the Clearfield Chamber of Commerce’ cookbook. This cookbook features recipes from more than 80 Chamber members. Members were asked to submit a recipe to put into the cookbook at no cost to them, which included all their contact information and logo.
Bloom said the cookbooks were initially made available at the Wing Fling, and they’ve been selling ever since. She purchased the supplies to make all the cookbooks at the Chamber office, so they could cut on cost as well. More than 150 cookbooks have been sold so far.
“We didn’t do the cookbooks as a big fundraiser at all,” Bloom said. “We did them for fun, and to help our businesses advertise for free.”
In March, the Clearfield Revitalization Corp. (CRC) made its new home in the Chamber building as well, so the Chamber did have some constructional changes in the past six months. Now the Clearfield Chamber shares a building with the CRC, as well as the Clearfield Foundation.
Bloom is looking forward to continuing what she’s been doing for the past 10 months over the next six months.
“I would like to continue to bring in new members, helping new and old members utilize all of the benefits offered and helping the Chamber succeed in what it is we do for the community.”