CHAMBER HOPES TO SWELL MEMBERSHIP TO 1,100

Sixty new members is this year's goal in the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's membership drive.

The current membership is around 1,050. Kathy Bertrand, membership drive co-chairman, says, "We would like to be sitting at 1,100 members after the drive."

The theme for this year's campaign is "The Future is Now." A kick-off breakfast is scheduled Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. at the Drury Lodge. Bob Hendrix, chamber president, will keynote the meeting.

Bertrand says the chamber wants to guard against becoming stagnant in membership. "We have to look forward to the city's growth and the only way it can, is through the chamber and its members helping," she says. "Increasing our membership is very much an on-going process."

Their main goal is having a constant 1,100 members, says Don Hill, membership drive co-chairman.

The membership committee will recruit present members who are aware of the chamber's work to contact non-members.

"The chamber has about 10 committees and we are trying to get three to five members from each committee to try to contact people who are not members," Bertrand explains.

They hope to have 60 members working on the drive, who will pair up on their membership calls. "Our hope is that everyone gets one new member and maybe even a lot more than that," she says.

The teams will call on the business people they know personally.

Hill feels the personal contact from the members really helps to encourage people to join the chamber. "If someone if standing there saying `Let's do it right now,' they are more likely to join, whereas if the information is just sitting on the desk, they may never look at it," he says.

"I think the people appreciate that other members take time away from their businesses to come and talk with them."

The committee is also putting together a list of member coupons to allow new members to receive discounts from theses area businesses. This marks the first time for the coupon books and the hope is these coupons will give an added incentive for joining the chamber on the day of the drive.

Bertrand says they are many benefits of joining - including networking in the business community, and the possibility of meeting perspective clients.

The area's business community is definitely growing and a major factor is the work of the chamber, Hill says. He feels the chamber has had a hand in many new business openings during the last two years. And the more businesses the chamber brings in, the more people spend in the community, he says.

"The adage is true that if businesses are not members, then there would be no chamber," says Hill. "Those that aren't members are cheating the ones who are because they are reaping the benefits that the others members are paying for."

The chamber's function is to get industry to move to Cape Girardeau, and in the long run people who work at these new businesses will spend money in the community.

"We're hoping that people will be willing to grow with the city and also be willing to support what they have been able to take advantage of previously because of the present chamber," she says.

Not all chamber members agree with its decisions, says Hill. But only someone who is a member can voice their opinions and if the majority agrees, then that's the way it is, she says.

"If you aren't a member, then your word can't be heard."