The 2021 LOREDC Award Recipients Were...
The annual meeting of the Lake of the Ozarks Regional Economic Development Council (LOREDC) was held virtually on Thursday, January 21, 2021. The informative program reviewed the group’s updates from the past year and presented areas of concentration in the coming year for economic development including a focus on moving through COVID-19 post-pandemic, lake area marketing, and the organization’s growth.
Keynote Speaker, Ted Abernathy with Economic Leadership LLC, shared information and data regarding the post-pandemic economy of Missouri. His presentation discussed the impacts of the pandemic on our economy, including impacts on employment, job changes, consumer consumption of goods and services, and various expected changes in the upcoming year.
Business awards were presented for Small Business Partner of the Year (50 employees or less), Emerging Venture of the Year, and Business Person of the Year. To be eligible nominees must have been in business for a minimum of six months and a registered business in Camden, Miller or Morgan County. For 16 years LOREDC has been recognizing outstanding businesses and community leaders in our tri-county region. To date LOREDC has had the opportunity to acknowledge 55 deserving businesses and persons.
LOREDC Award Recipients were:
The Small Business Partner of the Year was presented to Ballparks National. What started out as an idea more than a decade ago, Ballparks National officially started moving dirt in 2015. After several setbacks including a governmental sequestration that impacted their funding mechanism, this business officially opened in October of 2020. Featuring five innovatively designed baseball/softball fields with state of the art synthetic turf tailored to all different age ranges. A full-service clubhouse with a BBQ restaurant, a traditional concession stand, batting cages, concierge service, and so much more compliment this venue to make the ballpark experience one to remember. Ballpark National’s mission is to become the recreational hub of the Ozarks.
The Emerging Venture of the Year was presented to Rebecca Christiansen with A Pinch of Happiness and Celebrate Differences. A Pinch of Happiness and Celebrate Differences not only provides the highest quality and freshest spices, teas, extracts, coffee, and spice infused oils to customers, this business serves a greater purpose that their customers can feel good about and that is providing meaningful employment to those with disabilities. The individuals with disabilities are involved in every aspect of the business from packaging, blending, sales and customer service. As a mother to a child with Down Syndrome, this year’s recipient wanted to create a learning opportunity and remove the barriers to employment for those with disabilities hopefully, resulting in a larger, accepting community. The foundation of this exceptional collaboration creates a place where individuals can utilize their gifts, celebrate their uniqueness and truly be themselves.
Cyndi Van Hook, owner of Coral Reef Seafood, was recognized as the Business Person of the Year. Cindy Van Hook has been a small business owner since 2007 with the opening of their seafood market in Osage Beach. While filling a niche in the lake area to provide fresh seafood to the Midwest, it is this individual’s accomplishments outside of her entrepreneurial business venture that sets her apart. Giving back for a better community is the personal mission of this recipient having served in the capacity of a SART (Sexual Assault Response Team) volunteer leading to her service at President of the Citizens Against Domestic Violence. She is an active leader on the Parkway West collaboration that included bringing traffic to the westside of the Grand Glaize Bridge that included special events and marketing promotions. She is a valuable businessperson and so much more with her positive influence on the lake area community.
In other business at the meeting, the LOREDC members were presented with a slate of candidates open Board positions. During the annual meeting, the membership elected new directors to join the Board for FY2021.
The 2021 Board of Directors and Officers are Jeana Woods, President (City of Osage Beach); Dane Henry, Vice-President (Lake Regional Health System); K.C. Cloke, Secretary (Lake Area Chamber of Commerce); Paul Hooper, Treasurer (Lake West Chamber of Commerce); Roger Corbin (City of Sunrise Beach); Trish Creach (Camdenton Area Chamber of Commerce; Amy Jackson (State Fair Community College); Harrison Fry (City of Lake Ozark); Steven Dust (Waterfront Corporate Services).
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