Scranton Chamber Participates in Geisinger Meals in Spring

Program supports local restaurants hit hard by pandemic

Geisinger partnered with eight local chambers of commerce to launch Meals in Spring and give back to the restaurants in the community hit hard by the pandemic.

As part of the program, more than 23,000 Geisinger employees can redeem a $10 meal voucher at more than 250 participating restaurants across 12 counties through June 30.

“Our local chambers of commerce were among the first organizations that came to us during the early days of the pandemic offering help,” said John Grabusky, senior director of community relations. “They collected N95 masks and gloves, organized sewing groups for homemade masks and they were behind many donations of pizzas, sandwiches, coffees and snacks that started to flow into our facilities. Now, it’s our turn to help them by supporting our local restaurants with Meals in Spring.”

Studies have shown that for every $100 spent at locally owned businesses, $68 stays within the community. By patronizing local restaurants, Geisinger employees are contributing to the local economy, which benefits their friends, neighbors, school districts and nonprofit organizations in their communities.

Participating chambers of commerce include Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce, Greater Wyoming Chamber of Commerce, Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce, Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce, Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce, Clinton County Economic Partnership & Visitors Bureau, and Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce.

COLTS to Add Saturday Service to 11 Mid Valley Industrial Parks Route


Beginning April 24, Saturday Service will be available on the #11 Mid Valley Industrial Parks route with the same schedule as weekdays. Additionally, beginning Monday, April 19, a 5:35 a.m. outbound trip will be added to the route.

“We are certainly pleased to be able to expand this route and offer service on Saturdays,” said Executive Director Bob Fiume. “The addition of a morning trip should also be helpful for employees getting to early shifts.”



Specific details are below:

● Outbound trips leave at :35 past the hour every hour from the Giant Market in Dickson City, starting at 5:35 a.m.

● The last outbound trip of the day leaves at 5:35 p.m.

● Inbound trips leave at :10 past the hour every hour from the Jessup Youth Sport Complex, starting at 6:10 a.m.

● The last inbound trip of the day leaves at 6:10 p.m.

Official Notice to Members

In accordance with the by-laws of The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, the Governance Committee has presented a slate of candidates for election to the Board of Directors. The names of the candidates are herewith submitted for your review:

Megan Alpert, Merrill Lynch; Ronda Beemer, Senior Director of Business Development, Quandel Construction Group; Ronald R. Beer, Chief Administrative Officer, Geisinger Northeast Region; Joseph Fasula, Co-owner, Gerrity’s Supermarkets; Vincent Galko, Vice President, Mercury Public Affairs; William Nasser, President & Co-owner, Backyard Ale House; Kathleen Pearage, Administrator, Tri-Star Academy and Wee Care Day Care; Anna Ponas, Account Executive, Kelly Services; Alana Roberts, Regional Aff airs Director, PPL Electric Utilities; and Daniel J. Santaniello, President & CEO, Fidelity Bank.

Additional candidates for directors can be nominated by petition bearing the genuine signature of at least 15 members of the Chamber, in good standing. Such petition must be filed with the Governance Committee by April 23, 2021. The determination of the Governance Committee as to the legality of the petition(s) shall be final.

If no legal petition is fi led by April 23rd nominations shall be closed and the candidates declared elected by the Board of Directors at its May meeting.

If a legal petition presents additional candidates, you will be notified and an election by ballot initiated.

Members of the Governance Committee are: Dr. Marwan Wafa, Chair; Megan Alpert, Ronald Beer, Jessica Kalinoski, P. Timothy Kelly, Esq., Dr. Jill Murray, Sister Mary Persico, IHM, , Laurie Schwager, and Lisa Zielinski; Patrick A. Fricchione, Jr. and Robert F. Durkin, Ex-Officio.

Scranton Chamber Announces Community Block Party

We are excited to announce our plan to host a Community Block Party featuring entertainment, shopping, children’s activities, music, dining and more. “The Chamber Community Block Party” will take place on First Friday, May 7, from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 8 from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. on the 200 & 300 blocks of Penn Avenue in downtown Scranton and is in lieu of the Chamber’s Annual Dinner this year. The event will follow all CDC guidelines.

“The Chamber exists because of our local businesses, and we are here to support them. After the turbulent year of 2020 – and as we continue to come out on the other side of the pandemic – our board and staff wanted to plan a safe, family-friendly event that supports all businesses and celebrates our community,” said Bob Durkin, Chamber president.

The Chamber is grateful for the local support from businesses already, including “The Chamber Community Block Party” chairs Peter Danchak, regional president of PNC Bank; and Sarah Effertz, owner of Blu Elefante Event Consulting and Management. The family-friendly event will include three stages featuring 24 bands and multi-cultural performance groups, as well as vendor marketplaces, children’s activities, art exhibits and more. Beginning May 2 and running through May 8, the Chamber will also celebrate and promote “Chamber Restaurant Week” across the greater Scranton community.

Small business members of the Chamber can apply for a FREE vendor booth in one of our three Marketplaces along Penn Avenue. To secure a vendor booth and learn more, visit our event page.

CANPACK Group Hosts Ceremonial Event

The CANPACK Group held a ceremonial event on Friday March 19 with state and local officials along with community leaders. A short program was presented marking the 908,000-square-foot aluminum can manufacturing plant being completely under roof with final construction expected to be in May.

In July of 2020, The CANPACK Group – a subsidiary of Blandon, PA-based GIORGI GLOBAL HOLDINGS, INC. (GGHI) – announced the construction a state of the art aluminum beverage can body and ends manufacturing plant. President and CEO of GGHI Peter Giorgi remarked that “this is CANPACK’s first plant in the United States and will feature a North American Center of Excellence which will demonstrate our R&D and lithographic capabilities. In anticipation of this ceremonial event, Mr. Giorgi added: “We are extremely excited to be bringing CANPACK to the United States and to my home state of Pennsylvania, and we are very pleased that Roberto Villaquiran, CEO of the CANPACK Group, will be joining us in person for this event as well as our leadership team for CANPACK US.”

The new $366 million facility in Olyphant will create more than 400 skilled and semi-skilled jobs. CANPACK will open the first of its assembly lines in September with further lines to follow.
Roberto Villaquiran, CANPACK’s CEO, notes that “providing life sustaining jobs while creating essential packaging products which can be recycled again and again is foundational with respect to CANPACK’s focus on sustainability, being a responsible corporate citizen, and passionately serving the needs of our customers.” Brooke Lipperini, HR Manager o f CANPACK US, added, “We are hiring passionate and dedicated individuals to join our team. This is an exciting time for CANPACK and we welcome those who want to be a part of the creation of a major manufacturing facility that brings great sustainable product to our great country.”

Learn more at Canpack.com.

Chamber Celebrates 2021 SAGE Award Winners at Chamber Gala

Photos by Todd Hiller Photography

We hosted its Chamber Gala this evening, presenting the 2021 SAGE Awards – the Scranton Awards for Growth and Excellence. This year’s event was a hybrid celebration with SAGE finalists and award sponsors joining us at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center, while other guests enjoyed viewing parties from home via Zoom.

Chamber president, Bob Durkin, and Chamber board chair, Patrick Fricchione, opened the ceremony thanking all finalists, award sponsors, and Gala sponsors for their dedication to the NEPA community. Our emcee for the evening was Thom Welby, with musical entertainment provided by Lexington Entertainment.

The SAGE Awards honor outstanding local businesses for their talent, creativity, and innovation. This year, the awards were enhanced to honor and recognize the innovation our local businesses employed due to COVID-19.

The Chamber congratulates all finalists and winners of the 2021 SAGE Awards. The winners in each category are:

BEST PRACTICES IN COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
• Coal Creative

BEST PRACTICES IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
• Maternal and Family Health Services

BEST PRACTICES IN MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
• Posture Interactive

BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
• Fidelity Bank

HOMETOWN STAR
• Food for All Campaign at The Settlers Inn

IMPACT: COMMUNITY OUTREACH
• DePietro’s Pharmacy

IMPACT: PEOPLE AND CULTURE
• Penn Foster

IMPACT: PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
• Woodloch Resort

NEW AND EMERGING BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
• Space Time Mead & Cider Works

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR
• Keystone Mission

PEOPLE’S CHOICE
• Hematology & Oncology Associates of NEPA

SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
• United Sports Academy

A Letter on Workforce Initiatives

Dear Chamber Members:

The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce and our workforce development affiliate, Skills in Scranton, are working to support member businesses with pandemic economic recovery. In the past year we’ve held numerous webinars, industry collaborative meetings, and conducted one-on-one interviews with many Chamber members.

Through the outreach, we learned that workforce is a common concern – specifically the availability and access to a qualified labor pool. To assist our members with their workforce needs, we’ve implemented three new programs.

  • Workforce Wednesday: Each week, one Chamber member business will join us to share information about job openings and company culture. The programs are hosted on Zoom and available on Facebook.
  • Chamber Job Board: The Chamber recently launched a new Job Board for members to open positions at no cost.  
  • Small Business Internship Fund: If you are looking for help to grow your business, the Chamber can match you with a college student that can work virtually or on-site. We have access to a pool of students who are ready to gain real-world experience and are immediately available to work or intern. Qualified Chamber members can receive funding to offset internship wages.

To learn more about these Chamber workforce development programs, contact Brianna Florovito at bflorovito@scrantonchamber.com or 570-342-7711.

Sincerely,

Bob Durkin
Chamber President
Patrick Fricchione Jr.
Chamber Board Chair