The Houston and District Chamber of Commerce is busy organizing its annual awards night Oct. 26 in which it celebrates business excellence and recognizes outstanding citizens and organizations.
There will be seven awards to present this year; Business of the year, Home-Based Business of the Year, Customer Service Award – Business, Customer Service – Employee, Community Spirit Award, Volunteer of the Year, Rising Up for Youth.
The annual catered event, being held at the Houston Community Hall, provides the chance for the business community to not only recognize businesses, individuals and organizations but also to note the role the business community plays within the Houston area, says chamber president Darrin Super.
“There are many businesses in town that need recognition and there are a lot of people and organizations who are doing great things and they need to be acknowledged,” he added of the various award categories.
“Many people do their part in this community — home-based businesses, for example,” he said.
Super made mention of the young citizen and citizen of the year categories as two ways the chamber can recognize contributions which aid the community.
And he said the event itself is a good example of how businesses, organizations and people come together for a common purpose — the Houston Secondary Safe Grad Committee, for instance, serves to provide designated drivers.
“We do appreciate all those who contribute and participate,” Super added.
One new feature this year is being able to submit nominations online, a circumstance Super hopes will boost the number of submissions. Members of the community are welcome to submit entries by clicking this link to online nomination form http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07egkwdzy5k077vp7u/a012uk0plxbdg/questions
The awards and evening are financed by donations from various businesses. Sponsoring businesses either sponsor individual awards or contribute to the overall cost of holding the function.
Last year Happy Jack’s Restaurant and Bar was retailer of the year, Get a Grip Golf Club Repair was home-based business of the year, Pawesome Adventure was recognized as best business for customer service, Daljit Atwal of the Houston Health Centre was recognized for best customer service by an employee, Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club was awarded the community spirit award, Chia Tran of Chia’s Dream Closet was recognized as the businessperson of the year, Jessie Brent was honoured as the young citizen of the year, Maike Elliott as citizen of the year and Robert Mark as educator of the year.