Colts Encourage Fans to Donate to Help Flood Victims

Chamber member, The Colts, are hosting their first-ever “Fan Fests,” a series of celebrations featuring free concerts by national recording artist Jon McLaughlin. With five Fan Fests remaining, the Colts are urging fans attending the events to make monetary donations to the American Red Cross, the proceeds from which will go to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to help those affected by the recent flooding.

The Colts will match up to $10,000 at each Fan Fest location.

Fans may stop by the Red Cross booth at the Fort Wayne Colts Fan Fest to make donations:
Thursday, June 19
Headwaters Park
333 South Clinton St.
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
4 p.m.

Join the Fan Fest and Meet Colts Players and Cheerleaders, visit Blue the official team mascot, register to win tickets to a Colts pre-season game, pick-up free Colts giveaways and support the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and those affected by the Central US Floods and Tornadoes.

Meet Me @ 5 Tonight!

This month's Meet Me @ 5 will be hosted by Source One Solutions, located at 2135 Spy Run Ave tonight from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. The cost to attend is $5 plus a business card for Chamber members or $10 plus a business card for non-Chamber members.

For more information, contact Christy Drake at (260) 424-1435, ext. 266 or cdrake@fwchamber.org.

Feet on the Street

By Teresa Royer

I stopped in to introduce myself to the folks at Deister Machine Company as I was in the area. Laura Burger, Executive Assistant to the President (Mark Deister) was kind enough to share some information about the company. They are getting close to celebrating their centennial. The company was founded in 1912 which makes them 96 years old!

Laura gave me some hand outs on the company which picture employees dating back to their beginning complete with some very historic photos; several current employees have many years of service with Deister (tells you they must be doing something right.) They have a very rich history and I am looking forward to learning more! Until next time……

TrustBearer Labs Expands Operations to Downtown Fort Wayne

Thank you to the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance for the following press release...

TrustBearer Labs, an authentication solutions provider, has expanded its operations to a new location in downtown Fort Wayne. The company will complete its relocation to the upper suite of the Graphics Arts Building on 226 West Wayne Street this month.

TrustBearer Lab’s decision to move its operations downtown emphasizes the company’s intention to retain and recruit talent in conjunction with the downtown Fort Wayne revitalization project. As part of the expansion, the company plans to add several employees to its eight person staff over the next year.

“With its close proximity to new and exciting development, we see our move downtown as not only motivation for our current staff, but also a great attraction tool for future employees,” said David Corcoran, CEO, TrustBearer Labs. “In addition, the space is a good fit for us at this stage of our company’s development. We’re happy to be able to stay in the Fort Wayne community.”

“The City of Fort Wayne is pleased to have progressive companies like TrustBearer continue to invest in our downtown,” said Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry. “David and his team are to be congratulated for their progress to date and we look forward to assisting with the future growth of this knowledge-based company.”

TrustBearer Labs has been a resident of the NIIC since January 2006. After starting with two Fort Wayne based employees, the company’s full-time staff has grown to eight at the new location. Future plans call for hiring several additional employees by the end of 2008.

To assist with that workforce growth, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) Northeast Regional Office and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (through WorkOne Northeast) are pursuing employee training assistance by matching available state programs to TrustBearer’s needs. That work is ongoing at this time.

More information is available at http://www.trustbearer.com/.

Upcoming "Passion" Seminar at Chamber

Would you like to help your employees ignite their passion? Attend this informative seminar hosted by Melissa Jaegle of Master Consultants.

Passion attendees will learn about hiring more effectively, measuring accountability, using your employee's skills, building initiative and much more. The seminar will take place at the Chamber on June 19 from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. The cost is $89 per person.

For more information call (260) 483-1100 or visit http://www.mclp.us/

Leadership Fort Wayne

Leadership Fort Wayne is currently accepting applications for their next class. Applications are available online at http://www.leadershipfortwayne.org/ or by calling (260) 481-6112. The deadline for returning completed applications is June 30.

Small Business Financing Event

Starting a business? Expanding your business? Learn about the Small Business Administration's guaranty loan programs and how to finance the growth of your business at this informative workshop!

Topics covered include: improving business cash flow, refinancing existing debt, eliminating balloon payments and much more. This seminar takes place at Women's Enterprise (3521 Lake Avenue) from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. on Thursday June 12.

Reservations for this free workshop are required as seating is limited. For more information or to reserve your space, contact Jo Ellen Pepple, Women's Enterprise at (260) 424-7977 or jpepple@womensenterprise.org.

Nonprofit Workshop Tomorrow

Four area nonprofit foundations are hosting a workshop Tuesday, June 10 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Allen County Public Library downtown branch. The workshop is for local nonprofit leaders to learn about the impacts of the new IRS Form 990 on their organizations. IRS Form 990 is a vital document in the nonprofit sector and is used to provide an accessible and objective report of a nonprofit's financial reporting to the government.

The four local foundations working together to host the seminar are: Foellinger Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne, The St. Joseph Community Health Foundation and The Lutheran Foundation.

For more information call (260) 416-0222.

Allen County GM Plant One of Most Productive in North America

A new report shows that Chamber member General Motors plant in Fort Wayne is the automaker's most productive large pickup truck operation.

The Harbour Report on Manufacturing shows the Allen County facility can produce a vehicle in 20.51 hours. The Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra are assembled at the plant.

Live, Learn & Intern Event

The next Live Learn and Intern event will take place at Crazy Pinz on June 12 from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. with free lounge bowling, pizza and breadsticks. Encourage your interns to sign up for a night of fun.

For more information contact Kristen Turner at (260) 424-1435 ext. 270 or kturner@fwchamber.org.