Verle Yoder, who will be installed Saturday night as this year’s VC Chamber of Commerce president, is a genuine reformer.
Note: The installation banquet and dance will be held at Harrah’s Pavilion from 6 p.m.–midnight.
Yoder wants to make the Chamber into an organization that provides real value to its members.
Yoder and his wife, Helen, have lived in VC for four years, and have been in Southern California since 1990, when they moved here from Silicon Valley, brought here by her job.
Both came to California from the Midwest, although they met in Northern California.
“We’d done the yuppie thing,” Yoder recalls. “We were sick of the status report meetings and constant product changes. I wanted to run my own business.”
When Helen dropped out of the technology industry the couple acquired a framing shop for a while in Laguna Beach.
“That’s when we knew we needed to be landlords instead of paying landlords—so we got into real estate,” he remembers.
When the road department tore up the street in front of their shop in Laguna Beach and business dried up they thought about leaving California. “But we didn’t want to go back to the Midwest because of the cold, so we started searching.”
They found Valley Center and “elbow room.” “I didn’t really want to hear my neighbors,” says Yoder, echoing many VC residents who have two acre estates.
The Yoders fit right into that template with a two-acre parcel and an orange grove—and no noise! Except for the occasional cow.
“We love it here because it’s not the Midwest and we’ve got our solitude,” he says.
Yoder was introduced to the Chamber one evening when he went to a Sundowner and “nobody talked to me. I tried to hand out business cards and they practically ran from me.”
He thought the Sundowners could use strengthening in the networking department. They had evolved into a social event that wasn’t useful for promoting local businesses, Yoder felt.
“I got involved because I wanted to improve that. I went there to get business and people were friendly but I was left alone,” he recalls.
Then he met last year’s president John Yeager and board member Carol Timm and got involved. When he complained about the Chamber’s Web site and the Sundowners, they put him in charge of them!
“That’s what got me elected as vice president. The next thing I read in The Roadrunner that I’d been elected vice president. I didn’t know I was on the ballot!”
He was convinced that if you join the Chamber your business should immediately go up on the Web site and you should be introduced at the next Sundowner.
He was later also put in charge of the Chamber’s newsletter.
The Sundowners were revamped to be more business friendly. Members greet new visitors. Merchants that donate drawing prizes get time to mention their companies.
It seems to be working. “Businesses are starting to realize the value of when they give a gift to be able to give a 30 second spiel about their business,” he says.
He adds proudly: “Recently someone called the Chamber to say that they had been told that as a new business they needed to go to the mixers!”
More businesses are asking to host the Sundowner.
The newsletter has improved with its new four color printing, including color photos, and more featured businesses.
Members can put their business story in the newsletter for free if they write and submit it. There’s no charge to advertise.
“The big news,” adds Yoder, “is that veteran graphic artist Valerie Jonas will be the editor of the newsletter.”
Another new program is the Member2Member discount, in which Chamber members offer discounts to other members.
“Automotive Specialists offers one of those,” says Yoder. “Because of that that’s where I take my car now.”
The Chamber office does its part to promote members. “Most people don’t know that when the office gets calls looking for services that our office manager Sue Richmond refers them to members. She acts as kind of a 411.
“If there’s no member for that category she looks somewhere else. But members get first referral. They may never know that client came from us because most businesses don’t ask ‘how did you find me?’ ”
Residents tend to use a local business. “They know that if you are a member you are a serious person who pays dues. You are perceived as being a better business.”
Members are listed on the Chamber’s Web site, and if they have a Web site the Chamber will link to it.
The Chamber recently moved into a new office location. 27525 Ste. A Valley Center Road.
“It’s very visible,” says Yoder. “Visitors coming into town will see it right away. Our goal is to create a visitor’s center with brochures of area attractions just like you would find in a hotel lobby. Most people looking to move to an area will stop at the Chamber of Commerce to get literature and information. It’s very important to have a walk in business that’s accessible.”
The office will eventually have a wi-fi hotspot. It already offers meeting space so small members who lack an office can have a professional place to meet clients.
Another goal is to put on a “business expo.”
The Ambassadors, long described as the Chamber’s “worker bees,” have an expanded roll this year.
“We want to do more ribbon cuttings and open houses with the Ambassadors,” says Yoder.
Each Ambassador has been given a list of individual members to be a liaison with.
“We have really good ambassadors who are really on board with working with businesses and recruiting new businesses,” remarks Yoder.
Saturday’s installation banquet will be more friendly and business like. Board members will greet each table and act as hosts.
Chamber directors recently finished a two-day strategic planning seminar, using local resident Keith Simpson’s Life Skills course.
“Director Bill Lewis spearheaded it. It was his brain child,” says Yoder. “Now, we have a guidepost for the future of what the Chamber should be doing, what we need to accomplish in setting goals. Not just for funding but for growing memberships, discussing our strengths and weaknesses. So that when there’s a new board they will have a structure to follow to maintain the growth and prosperity of the organization. We never had that before.”
The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians celebrated the end of 2007 with a final round of charitable contributions including $10,000 in gift certificates for children and youth of the La Jolla and Mesa Grande Tribes, distributed at a Christmas party hosted by the Rincon Band in conjunction with the Rez Riders, a motorcycle club.
This brought their contributions for 2007 to a total of $118,000.
“Both the La Jolla and Mesa Grande reservations severely suffered from the Poomacha fire, and do not have the government funds and resources to bounce back as quickly as tribes with casinos. Sharing is not just part of our tradition, it is our responsibility to our tribal community,” said DeLisle Calac, chairman of the Rincon contributions committee. “Plus, there is nothing more fun and rewarding than sharing the Christmas spirit with a group of excited and appreciative children.”
Additional holiday contributions included: A $5,000 donation supporting Escondido’s First Night, family New Years Eve celebration; $2,000 to the Ogallala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota for children’s gifts; $2,000 to Whittier College for holiday donations of gifts to the La Jolla Reservation; and a donation of $2,500 to the San Diego Council of American Indian Organizations for food baskets and toys for needy children.
Other contributions distributed to kids during the last quarter of 2007 were: $3,500 to the Valley Center-Pauma Youth Sports Organization; as a soccer “League Sponsor;” the Hamilton High School Athletic Booster Club, in Hemet, ($1,500); Connected with Kids, serving San Diego County foster children and families, $3,500; the Noli Indian School, of San Jacinto, with a donation of $500 for a youth basketball program; the Corona Panthers Youth Track Club, Corona, a $1,500 Gold Sponsorship; and $5,000 to the Indian Charter School located on the Rincon Reservation.
Earlier this year the tribe made a $40,000 dollar donation to Valley Center High School.
According to Vernon Wright, chairman of the Rincon Band, children and youth are currently the major focus of the tribe’s charitable contributions program. “We just created a contribution committee and policies for donating, and expect to do much more next year. We can have more impact if we focus on specific needs, and there is no other group more important than our children.”
Calac added that “While non-profits serving children are primary recipients, the tribe is also committed to being good neighbors and supporting organizations contributing to the community. As our funding year ended, we were pleased to be able to help out organizations like the Escondido Sunrise Rotary and the Dos Valles Garden Club of Valley Center.”
The Rincon Band was a $5,000 sponsor of the Rotary breakfast honoring firefighters, and gave the garden club $1,500 to provide landscaping for the site of a life-size statue of the blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the first American Indian to be declared Blessed, to be placed at St. Stephens Catholic Church.
For information on the Rincon charitable contribution program, and application procedures, please write the Rincon Tribal Office, Contributions Committee, POB 68, Valley Center, CA 92082.
Valley Center/Pauma Music Boosters will sponsor the 11th Annual Jazz Benefit Concert at the Maxine Theater on Wednesday, Feb. 6.
Opening acts will be the VC Middle School Thunderhawk Jazz Band, the VC High School Jazz Jags and the High School Advanced and Jazz Choirs beginning at 6 p.m.
The San Diego All Stars Jazz Band will take the stage at about 7:15 p.m. The All Stars Jazz Band is comprised of 18 of Southern California's best jazz musicians. They regularly sell out performances through the southland.
New this year will be an exclusive VIP Back Stage Pass. This event includes an opportunity to enjoy hors d'oeuvres, drinks, and jazz piano in the black box of the Maxine Theater.
Known officially as the Doris Staples Theater, the Black Box is not usually open to the public. This is a rare opportunity to enjoy a back stage look before the concert begins.
Tickets to the VIP Back Stage Pass event cost $10 each, however they are limited to the first 100 guests.
Tickets to the concert are an additional $10 per person in advance, and are free to Music Boosters members. Concert tickets may be available at the door for $12 each.
Treat your special someone to an early Valentine’s Day concert. All proceeds benefit the music programs in Valley Center Schools.
Tickets are available at the Country Junction deli. Checks are payable to VC/P Music Boosters (VCMB), a non-profit 501C3 charity.
Questions? Call Diane Conaway at (760) 749-2888 or Sandy Smith at (760) 310-2478. Music Boosters members will be receiving their tickets in the mail.
The great majority of persons transported by the Mercy Ambulance live in the Valley Center area according to a report released at the last VC Fire Protection District board meeting.
Mercy Ambulance’s summary of resident transports for the last four months of 2007 showed that the percentage of medical transports for persons living outside Valley Center ranged from 6.2% in September to 18% in November, with an average of about 13% out-of-towners overall.
Director Dan Thornton, who is the chairman of the finance subcommittee for the district, had requested the information.
“The first thing this information shows is that a majority of calls benefit Valley Center residents,” he observed.
“When you think of the amount of traffic on the roads that is casino related—which has essentially doubled our traffic—these figures showed that the vast majority of calls still benefit the local residents who pay the taxes,” said Thornton. “That would indicate to me that non-residential incidents represent a small percentage of the total.”
Thornton wants to keep track of this traffic with the possible interest in reclaiming some of the money that is lost when outsiders are transported.
The ambulance service currently does not bill out-of-town visitors, but it is legal to do so.
“I found the figures interesting,” said Thornton. “That’s why we provide an ambulance service, to benefit the community.”
An area average among some local ambulance services of the cost to transport patients is about $500 per call.
The ratio of local patients to out-of-community patients is completely reversed on Palomar Mountain, where Chief George Lucia estimates that about 80% of calls are visitors.
Those visitors are billed by the little volunteer fire department for between $300-$500 for materials.
“We only charge the out-of-town people,” said Lucia. Residents are not charged. The recovery rate of that billing is about 60%.
The figures released broke down as follows:
September, 2007: Out of a total of 81 transports, 68 were from the VC ZIP code and 13 were from outside that zone. The total from outside were 6.2%.
October 2007: Out of a total of 85 transports, 77 lived within the VC ZIP code and eight were from outside that zone. The total from outside were 10.6%.
November 2007: Out of a total of 72 transports, 59 were from the VC ZIP. Thirteen, or 18%, were from outside.
December 2007: Out of a total of 90 transports, 74 were from the VC ZIP. Sixteen (17%) were from outside.
Other information from last year’s fire calls revealed that the great majority continue to be medical emergency calls.
The count of incidents by type for 2007 is as follows: 68.8% medical; 13.7% public service; 12.6% other fires; 2.3% vegetation fires; Haz-Mat 1.7% and 1% structure fires.
Early Wednesday morning a large tree fell on to the primary telephone wires on Canfield Road on Palomar Mountain. CHP blocked the road for more than two hours for safety with the assistance of the Palomar Mountain Volunteer Fire Department. Palomar School students were escorted on foot around the danger and then transported to school on time.
Around 60 families attended the Primary School Family Learning Night in Celebration of Literacy held at the Valley Center Library. After a welcome with food and announcements, parents went off to attend two 30 minute seminars on how to help their child become a better reader and student. Children were entertained by our local storyteller Harlynne Geisler and our resident Book Fairy, Linda Chapp. Stump’s Family Market donated food to the event.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
Copyright © 2008, Palomar Community Newspapers, dba Valley Roadrunner. All rights reserved. This content may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of the Valley Roadrunner.