The Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce is proud to present The Kenney Awards! The Kenney, named for the region we hail from, is awarded annually to area businesses and professionals that are deserving of our attention and recognition.

To ensure we can continue to celebrate our community and the deserving nominees and winners safely, the 2021 Kenney Awards are going virtual!

The 2021 Kenney Awards will be held virtually on March 26, 2021 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. from the comfort of your living room, office, or wherever you choose to stream. This year, we will recognize 5 award categories: Large Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Community Service, President's Circle, and Cynergy Young Professional. The winners for President's Circle and Cynergy Young Professional awards will be decided LIVE with voting by the audience.

Join and United Way of Kennebec Valley's Emerging Leaders Society and Cynergy, a division of the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce are hosting a Mental Health panel discussing the ways COVID has affected mental health of both adults and children in the Kennebec Valley. Both the short- and long-term effects from this troubling pandemic have impacted many parts of our lives, and many people are not aware of how COVID-19 has affected our mental health overall.

Wednesday, February 10th | 4:00 - 6:00PM

Join us for a Virtual Paint Night with Lori Miller of Rare Bird Art Studio! This event is $30 per person and includes a 9x12 canvas panel, colors needed, paint pallet, and brush. Make sure you have your own cup to rinse your brush, paper towels, and paint friendly clothes! Please note that this luncheon is held from 4:00 - 6:00 pm rather than the usual lunch time.

Supplies may be picked up at the Kennebec Valley Chamber on February 8th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm or February 9th between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

Join Cynergy for our first Virtual Trivia Night! The trivia will be played via Kahoot, and it will helpful to download Kahoot prior to joining the virtual event.

Although we are not networking together face-to-face, we are excited to catch up and network virtually! Our members and guests are invited to join us on Wednesday, February 24th from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. for a virtual Business After Hours. During the virtual event, there will be break-out rooms with smaller groups to allow for more networking opportunities. Join us to share updates on your business and reconnect with the KV Chamber!

Does your business need PPE? The KV Chamber has masks available for our members! Please contact us at info@kennebecvalleychamber.com or by calling (207) 623-4559 so we can assist you with your needs.

Gosline Insurance Group | Kennebec Savings Bank | Knowlton Hewins Roberts Funeral Homes and Cremation Service | Lapointe Lumber Co., Inc. | Le Club Calumet, Inc. | Maine Instrument Flight | Meadow Park Development Corp. | Plummer Funeral Home | Senator Inn & Spa | Sprague & Curtis Real Estate

Augusta Civic Center | Dead River Company | J.S. McCarthy Printers | Rejean Blais Apartment Rentals

20+ Years

Crisis & Counseling Centers, Inc. | Kennebec Valley Council of Governments | Maine State Credit Union | Readfield Insurance Agency, LLC | Richmond Insurance Agency | Windsor Fair

C & C Realty Management, LLC | Cornerstone Insurance Agency, Inc. | Erickson Bonding & Insurance Associates, Inc. | Gosline Retirement Planning | J/R Metal Frames | Karen Johnson CPA, LLC | Kristie Rowell Insurance Agency | Quirion Insurance Agency | SCORE | Servpro of Augusta

Gardiner Federal Credit Union | Maine Information Network | Maine Laser Skin Care and Medi Spa | Tamara Lilly VO

Androscoggin Home Healthcare & Hospice | Maine Dental Association

Bar Harbor Bank & Trust’s employee giving program, Casual for a Cause, recently surpassed the $100,000 mark of total donations made to nonprofit organizations since the program launched in 2018. More than 53 organizations across Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have received donations through the program.Casual for a Cause gives Bank employees the opportunity to dress casually on Fridays in exchange for a bi-weekly payroll deduction made to a pool of funds collected during each quarter. The employees then vote on the nonprofits to receive their contributions. The program is entirely voluntary, and each employee sets his/her own level of giving. Approximately 2/3 of the Bank’s employees participate in Casual for a Cause.

D R Designs has created a Support Local 1st initiative as an opportunity for small businesses to reap the rewards of branded apparel advertising completely free of charge to your business. All you must do is help spread the word to your loyal customers. The program will run for 30 days. Each participating business will have a shirt sample on hand, a flyer for promotion, and order sheets to be printed at your location. At the deadline, all shirts will be ordered at once. Please allow two weeks for D R Design to receive the products and print the logos. For more information, contact D R Designs at (207) 622-3303 or at drdesigns@drdesignsonline.com

Kennebec Valley Council of Governments is proud to announce a new Business Financing opportunity through the CARES Act; $670,000 to expand KVCOG’s Revolving Loan Fund (RLF). These funds will allow KVCOG to make significant new investments in our regional economy by supporting small businesses, employment, and entrepreneurship in the Kennebec Valley. New to this CARES Act RLF is the availability of extremely favorable terms including interest rates as low as 0% and waiver of typical RLF requirements, such as providing leveraged capital or proving credit unavailability. To be eligible for this new Revolving Loan Fund, businesses must be located in Kennebec, Somerset, or western Waldo Counties. More information, including the application for funding, can be found at www.kvcog.org/rlf.

Kennebec Valley Council of Governments is pleased to partner with the SBA to offer the first in its new Resiliency Series. This series is designed to highlight different aspects of Resiliency throughout our region and is the product of additional funding from the EDA focused on helping our region respond to, and recover from, the COVID-19 pandemic. This first free virtual session is titled “Help My Business Now!” and will provide an overview of this new funding opportunity including guidance on how these funds can best be utilized. Register in advance and receive a confirmation email containing information joining: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvdOytrT0vGdz72gOPhfRr4JYoCMjKoRKR

Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center is hosting its 10th Annual One in Five 5k either virtual or in person on Sunday, April 25th at Quarry Road Trails in Waterville at 9:00 am. Inspired by the current Maine statistic of an estimated ONE in FIVE people in Maine have been affected by sexual violence (Muskie School of Public Policy, Maine Crime Victimizations Rates, 2011), the Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center is hosting this race. Sign up before March 25th to receive a free t-shirt! To register: https://runsignup.com/oneinfive5K

United Way of Kennebec Valley is hosting an ice shack raffle sponsored by Blane Casey Building Contractor, Inc. Tickets are $25 and we are only selling 500. Two tickets will be drawn on February 8^th at noon at Cushnoc Brewing. All proceeds from the raffle will benefit Kennebec Behavioral Health and The Bread of Life Soup Kitchen through United Way’s allocation process. Purchase a ticket at bit.ly/iceshackraffle or scan the QR code.

Viles Arboretum in collaboration with the Children's Discovery Museum is opening an indoor activity room for children, located on the basement floor of the Viles Arboretum's Visitor Center. The room is outfitted to create opportunities for exploration, with a nature sensory table, train table, loose-parts ball ramps, imaginative farmers market, microscopes and more. The space is geared towards children ages 1 through 6 and will be open for scheduled, private play sessions Wednesday - Saturday from 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM. For more information, visit vilesarboretum.org/discovery-room.

To submit Member News, send your press releases to: info@kennebecvalleychamber.com

Katie L. Doherty, President & CEO, kld@kennebecvalleychamber.com

Lindsay L. Corbett, Office Manager, llc@kennebecvalleychamber.com

Kayla M. Tracy, Events & Membership Director, kmt@kennebecvalleychamber.com

Caroline A. Saban, Marketing Director, cas@kennebecvalleychamber.com