2016 Golden Anchor Winners Readers’ Choice Awards

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2016 Golden Anchor Winners Readers’ Choice Awards

A pirate theme was a no brainer for this year’s Good, Better, Best contest. When thinking about this year’s theme, I immediately went to what treasures our locals are… residents, business owners, volunteers and community groups. All of these people work and live together to make our area the gem that it is. Treasure + gem quickly led me to pirate; plus a pirate-themed issue and party would be a blast to plan and if you know me, you know I’m in my glory planning a party.

This issue is all about celebrating the best of our community with a focus on local businesses, organizations and volunteers. The thing is these very people are also the ones who live and play in our community. This interwoven lifestyle and deep-seated care for where we live is what makes this community great… it’s what makes us one.

Stop and think for a minute about someone you’ve run into at the grocery store, on a bike trail or at a local restaurant. I bet most of them can be traced back to being involved in our community in one way or another.

For instance, I noticed Tricia Cammerzell, who works at the Kent School, was in charge of the big invitational for Samuel’s swim team. She is devoting countless hours to this large, local organization to help our youth.

On another day, I was unloading for Shore Kids Connection when Phil Dumenil passed by me. He stopped to ask for help getting the word out about the Kent Island Athletic Boosters fundraiser. He has a passion for helping our community and acts on it.

During my daily press release sort, I came across one from Compass Regional Hospice sharing the news that Zeke Warner, an owner of J.C. Warner Co., was now on their board. These same press releases are filled with local businesses that sponsor and give for events. One recent release for Claws for a Cause was supported by such local businesses as DiDonato Property Management, Queenstown Bank, Tri Gas & Oil Co., Inc., J.C. Warner Co., Bay Porches, Inc., and KRM Construction.

If that doesn’t convince you of our active, caring community, take a look at our calendar pages. Ninety-nine percent of the events you see are local fundraisers or community outreach events. And guess what? Ninety-nine percent of them happen because of the outstanding volunteer community we have in our area.

So what’s all this mean? It’s just a gentle nudge (okay, maybe it’s a little more than gentle… it’s an in-your-face, biggest issue of the year followed by the biggest party of the year nudge) to stop and appreciate the businesses, organizations and volunteers who make up our wonderful community.

Land ho! Which translates to “Gotta run! The Jetty and their awesome staff are in sight and ‘me party is waiting!”

My sincere thanks, Cheri
Owner, Shore Update