The Pocahontas Chamber of Commerce says there are advantages to membership and its members enjoyed some benefits at the group's annual dinner and meeting last Thursday night. Chamber members filled the Pocahontas County Opera House and enjoyed a sumptuous meal and an interesting talk by one of the organization's newest members.

Distinguished guests included State Senator Walt Helmick and State Representative Bill Hartman.

Green Bank businessman Jacob Meck delivered an invocation and the assemblage enjoyed their repast, catered by Harriet Faulknier. After dinner, Chamber vice-president Jerry Ramos announced the winners of the Chamber's Community Involvement Awards.

The Chamber selected Glades Building Supply as the winner of the 2010 Business Community Involvement Award. Among their notable civic contributions in 2010, the company donated generously to county schools and their sports and academic programs. The business also donated money and building supplies to churches and programs for people in need. Glades donated door prizes and money to numerous civic organizations and sponsored a Little League team and a Girls' Softball team.

Long-time proprietors Robert and Ruth Sharp accepted the award, along with Randy and Teresa Sharp and Angel Beck.

Randy Sharp thanked the Chamber for the award and said the Opera House was an appropriate venue to honor Glades Building Supply.

"We're just glad to be here," he said. "Years ago, back in the 80s and into the 90s, this was our lumber yard. Across the street was our hardware store. That's how we got started. We went through several floods and now we're in a new location farther up the creek."

Ramos announced Lauren Bennett as the recipient of the 2011 Individual Community Involvement Award.

Bennett originally hailed from Randallstown, Maryland, before attending West Virginia University and living in Montana for three years. She returned to West Virginia and worked as a wilderness ranger with the Bartow Ranger District before being hired as the director of Pocahontas County Parks and Recreation Division.

Ramos said Bennett had gone above and beyond expectations in her duties with Parks and Recreation, devoting enormous time and energy into planning and executing activities for both children and adults. In addition to her dynamic efforts with Parks and Recreation, Bennett serves on the Opera House board of directors and is very active in the Marlinton Presbyterian Church, where she is an elder, youth group leader and chairman of the Disciples group.

Nikki Bowman was the keynote speaker for the event. Bowman grew up in Clay County and graduated from West Virginia University and DePaul University in Chicago. She is the publisher and editor of WV Living and WV Weddings magazines and co-owner of the WV Living Marketplace at Snowshoe, which opened in 2010. Bowman resides in Morgantown with her husband, Greg, a law professor, and their two children.

Bowman described her efforts to start the West Virginia lifestyle magazines and said she had to overcome misconceptions about residents of the Mountain State.

"I went around and I met with a couple potential investors," she said. "I told people what my mission was and what I hoped to accomplish. Pretty much, everyone patted me on the head and said, 'oh, that's a great idea. We love your passion, but it'll never work - West Virginians are unengaged in their communities. They don't care about a statewide magazine. It's been tried before and failed - you can't do it.'"

Bowman said the conversations made her very angry and she discussed the problem with her husband, who was very supportive. The couple decided to fund the venture themselves and the magazines have become popular and profitable - now sold in 30 states and Canada.

"They were wrong," she said. "People in West Virginia are engaged. We're proud of our communities and we do want to know what's going on around our state."

For information on WV Living Magazine, see wvlivingmagazine.com on the Internet.

The mission of the Pocahontas County Chamber of Commerce is to promote a progressive, sustainable business community in Pocahontas County. For information on the organization, email info@pccocwv.com.

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