May 2021 News!

A Publication of the Belle Glade Chamber of Commerce

Brenda Bunting Retiring

Longtime Chamber Executive Director Brenda Bunting has announced she will be retiring the last week of May.

Serving as Executive Director for many years, she chose to go part time in January 2017. At that time, Melanie Grimes, who had just retired from the Clerk of the Courts office in Belle Glade, joined the Chamber as Co-Executive Director. For the past 4 years Brenda and Melanie, along with Office Manager Pam Stevenson have formed a great team working together for the community. Despite the pandemic, the chamber has flourished and continued to grow in their support of local businesses and our community.

Brenda spent the early years of her career working at the local newspaper as a reporter and was the General Manager and Editor before accepting the position at the Chamber in May of 2001. “Working at the newspaper for 22 years and then the Chamber for 20 years have both been wonderful experiences,” she said. “Belle Glade really is a great place to work and live. People in the Glades take care of one another. I truly treasure all the friendships I have made over the years.”

During her tenure at the Chamber, membership increased significantly and the Chamber became more involved in community events. The chamber upped their involvement with the annual Black Gold Jubilee Festival and added organizing and co-hosting the 4th of July Celebration in partnership with the City of Belle Glade in 2017.

Brenda notes highlights of her career were traveling the country while serving as the national editor of the Women Involved in Farm Economics organization; receiving the Women of Accomplishment recognition from Palm Beach State College in 2000 and the Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year award in 2001. She has served on the Black Gold Jubilee committee and the Jubilee Board of Directors for over 35 years, serving as chair of the Jubilee several times and serving as the booklet editor over 10 years. She is past chair of the Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center Board of Directors, a graduate of Leadership Glades, Class of 2002, past secretary of the Lake Okeechobee Regional Economic Alliance (LORE), served on the American Red Cross board; the Farmworkers Council; and currently serves on the City of Belle Glade Board of Adjustments. She is active in her local church, the Belle Glade Church of God, where she teaches adult Sunday School and serves as the Church Clerk. Brenda and her husband Bob have two sons, Bobby and Chris and three grandchildren.

“It has been a joy working with Pam Stevenson and Melanie Grimes. I know I will be leaving the Chamber in good hands,” she said. She says she is looking forward to spending more time with family at their property on the Florida/Georgia line and also plans to pursue some new hobbies.

Filling Brenda’s shoes will be someone well-known and who is already a great asset to the community... Lamar Weathers.

Lamar has been a volunteer at the Chamber for the past few years. He has helped lead some of the Chamber renovation projects, and has been maintaining the Chamber's website and Facebook page. He has also been on the Black Gold Jubilee Committee as Chair of the Corn and Sweets Booth, Editor of the Black Gold Jubilee Booklet for 2019 and 2021, 2021 Co-Chair of Sponsorship, and he makes sure that the Jubilee had signs and banners!

Lamar was born and raised in the Glades and graduated Christian Day School in 1983. He attended West Tech for Cosmetology and after a few years working Lamar attended IRSC and FAU where he earned his Bachelors Degrees in Managing Human Resources and Managing Information Technology. He currently works at Headquarters Hair and Nails in Belle Glade where he will continue to work in addition to working at the Chamber.

Lamar wants to focus on enhancing the Chamber Member's benefits, "through communication, education and support. The Glades is a wonderful and special area and we want to help the businesses of the Glades not only survive but thrive!"

Black Gold Jubilee Was a Huge Success!

We want to thank all of the volunteers who gave many hours of their time to help make this year’s Black Gold Jubilee a success. We also would like to thank the donors and the following sponsors whose generosity and continued support have made each this and every year's Jubilee possible.

Bank of Belle Glade

Belle Glades Lions Club

City of Belle Glade

Duda Farm Fresh Foods

Elberta Crate & Box Company

Everglades Equipment Group

Florida Crystals

FPL

H.E Hill Foundation

JEM Farms Inc

Law Offices of Shannon J. Sagan

Rotary Club of Belle Glade

State Farm Insurance - Barnie Walker

Sugarcane Growers Cooperative

The Palm Beaches

TKM Bengard Farms, LLC

Wedgworth's

Wellington Regional Medical Center

Wilkinson Cooper Produce

Here's a snapshot of all the fun and exciting festivities that took place at this year's Black Gold Jubilee!

Chamber Member Spotlight

Alzheimer's Community Care

Corporate Headquarters is located at 800 Northpoint Parkway, Suite 101-B, West Palm Beach. Telephone: 561-683-2700.

Mary M. Barnes, President & Chief Executive Officer

The Pahokee Adult Day Care facility is located at 470 Barack Obama Blvd., Pahokee.

Telephone: 561-924-7283. The center has been providing services at this location since 2004.

Alzheimer’s Community Care is a community-based not-for-profit organization that provides quality, compassionate and specialized dementia care to patients and caregivers living with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders in Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties since 1996. Its mission is to promote and provide community-based, family-centered care for patients and their caregivers living with neurocognitive disorders, through the belief, where there is help, there is hope.

Alzheimer’s Community Care is the largest provider of community-based, dementia-specific services in Florida, serving over 4,500 individuals in Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. It consists of 12 specialized Adult Day Care and Service Centers, one of which is in Pahokee, and offers family nurse consultants, a 24/7 crisis line, an ID Locator bracelet service, support groups, case management, education, training, and advocacy.

To find out how you can support, donate, or volunteer, please visit www.alzcare.org

Affordable Dry Cleaning/ StitchWorks Plus

Affordable Dry Cleaning and StitchWorks Plus are located at 349 S. Main Street, in Belle Glade, Florida.

Affordable Dry Cleaning offers dry cleaning and alteration services, their hours of operation are:

Monday and Tuesday- 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday- 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Thursday and Friday- 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Closed Saturday and Sunday

StitchWorks Plus has been providing custom embroidery and screen printing to residents and businesses in the Glades since 2001. They stock school uniforms for all of the local schools! They do any and all types of promotional products from pens, keychains, hand fans to coolers, mugs, cups and more. They can put your business logo on almost anything!

Please check out StitchWorks Plus on Facebook to see all they can do!!!

Stitchworks Plus hours of Operation are:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday-10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Closed on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday

Email them at sales@stichwp.com for more information.

Jeff and Terri are lifelong residents and huge supporters of the Glades and Glades businesses. Jeff opened Affordable Dry Cleaning in 1997 and StitchWorks Plus in 2001.

Check them out on Facebook

New MyPalmBeachClerk.com

Introducing the New MyPalmBeachClerk.com

Your time is valuable, and quickly getting the information you need, when you need it, is my top priority. Today, your Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller is making it easier than ever to access the information and services you need from our office.

Our newly redesigned MyPalmBeachClerk.com will help you quickly access our most popular services, including records searches, marriage licenses, traffic ticket payments and more. The website’s service-focused design reduces the number of clicks it takes for you to find the information you need.

In addition to the new user-friendly format, website improvements include:

• Service Finder: This intuitive tool takes visitors directly to the assistance they need.

• Home Buttons: New buttons on the homepage link directly to the most visited pages on the website.

• Mobile-Friendly design: The website is optimized for viewing on smartphones and tablets.

The improvements you’re seeing today are based on the results of a month-long community survey, testing by user groups and visitor trend data from the previous website. Our website had more than 1.8 million visitors in 2020, and we hope those numbers grow even more with the launch of the new website.

If you have any feedback to share on the new site, we want to hear it so we can make it even better for you. Please share your thoughts by completing this brief online survey.

I look forward to hearing from you about the new MyPalmBeachClerk.com!

Regards,

Joseph Abruzzo

Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller

Chamber Board Member Spotlight

Dr. Charlene R. Ford has worked for the School District of Palm Beach County at West Technical Education Center (West Tech) for the past five years and is the Principal.

As the leader of West Tech, she is responsible for all the day the day and evening secondary and adult program offerings. Because West Tech was closed for over a decade, the chief task of her job is job to reconstitute West Tech, which includes addressing the needs of the facility and the offering of career and technical training to meet the needs of the residents and businesses that make up the Glades Region. Her work is made possible through the support and guidance of the School District, community stakeholders, local businesses, local elected officials, and interested citizens.

Dr. Ford has been on the Chamber BOD since August 2019 and also serves on the board of Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County – Glades Advisory Board, Lake Okeechobee Regional Economic Alliance (LORE), Planned Approach to Community Heath (PATCH), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated – South Palm Beach County Alumnae, Leadership FOCUS Class of 2020, and the Leadership Glades Class of 2018.

Dr. Ford and her husband, Benjamin, who teaches at Gove Elementary School, have been married for 27 years. Together, they have three children – sons Brentton and Vincent and daughter Carrie Elizabeth. Her hobbies include delighting in her family! Working with youth in the community, and enjoying good food and good conversation with her sorority sisters.

A fun fact about Dr. Ford is that she was a student worker in the Explosives Technology Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms for three years while she was in college in Washington, DC!

New and Renewing Members

Leon's Quality Professional Painting

Located at 44 Prewitt Village in Belle Glade, Florida. Rene offers both residential and commercial painting as well as pressure cleaning services. Rene Leon owner is insured, you can him at 561-261-8363 or email him at ReneLeon1973@gmail.com

Hanna's Soul Food and Kitchen - "Real Food for Real People"

Located at 949 W. Canal Street N in Belle Glade, Florida is open for breakfast and lunch, their hours are Wednesday thru Sunday 7am - 2pm. Owner, Tyrone Hanna invites you to stop in and see them. Hanna's also offers catering for corporate events, birthday parties, and funerals. Call them at 561-463-7073.