The Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce has won a prestigious award from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) for its exceptional service during the pandemic.
The ’Power of the Pivot Award’ goes to a chamber that’s embraced the pressures and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, quickly modifying existing services and/or introducing exceptional new programming or services to meet member needs during a most challenging time.
Muskoka Lakes Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Norah Fountain (in photo) says they are really proud of the accomplishment.
“First of all, all chambers pivoted and I think this award really should really be shared with all Muskoka chambers,” says Fountain. “Because one of the ‘COVID lemonade’ things that have come out of this is that we meet every week and we share ideas on how we can help businesses right across Muskoka. So, I hold up our other chambers – the Gravenhurst, the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Chamber, and the Bracebridge Chamber – I think we all deserve to share in this award.”
Fountain explains one of the ways the Muskoka Lakes Chamber pivoted during 2020.
“Our chamber advocated to pivot government thinking on support programs and that was really important in Muskoka,” says Fountain. “Because, we could see early on that they were going to compare Spring 2019 to Spring 2020, but in Spring 2019 a lot of businesses had been flooded out, so revenues were already down, so how could they compare year over year? So we started in right away and said ‘We’re going to have to look at Muskoka differently,’ and we pushed for a Muskoka Emergency Response Fund (for local businesses). We started with meetings with the District – we asked if they would put together $750,000 and we thought we could get the Federal government to put in $1.2 million – and with Muskoka Futures’ help, that fund grew to 5 and a half million dollars. And so, that was our big win – it took 14 weeks of lobbying individual politicians (at) all levels – And again, Muskoka Futures was great and Bracebridge Chamber jumped on board right away and then the other chambers joined as well. So again, we had this idea, we ran with it and it was really helpful for all of Muskoka.”
In addition, the Muskoka Lakes Chamber ‘pivoted’ themselves by taking things virtually in 2020 – everything from the Annual Meeting to Business After Hours functions, trivia nights, workshops, and webinars about how to access COVID resources and supports to even some hybrid in-person/virtual “re-opening” ribbon cuttings, including when Sherwood Inn started welcoming guests after the first wave.
“It’s been a whirlwind, exhausting year,” says Fountain. “Our work was noticed though: we had 49 new members join us in 2020. We are now a small ‘medium-sized Chamber’.”
Photo via the OCC