Porter County Chamber Coalition Network Night Brings Together Regional Businesses, Builds Community

Porter County Chamber Coalition Network Night Brings Together Regional Businesses, Builds Community

Businesses and organizations across The Region gathered at the Porter County Expo Center Thursday for this year’s Porter County Chamber Coalition Network Night. The Duneland, Portage and Valparaiso Chambers of Commerce hold this annual event to strengthen business ties and connections.

“We partner with the Portage Chamber and the Valpo Chamber for tonight’s event. We have close to 200 businesses here, a lot of the booths have been doing it for years. Tonight is an amazing opportunity to get your business out there. It’s a great way to meet people who you could work with,” said Beth Luncsford, Marketing Director of the Duneland Chamber.

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Chester Inc. is the grand sponsor of the Porter County Chamber Coalition Network Night. They have been doing the event for 20 years.

“I like camaraderie and the atmosphere of business to business as well as business to consumer. I think it's a visibility to the community. You get to know businesses a bit better, and they get to know us,” said Rich Shields with Chester Inc.

Businesses and organizations from across Northwest Indiana had only positive remarks about their experience and why they attend the annual Chamber Network Night.

“We’re here to introduce Porter In-Patient Rehab to different people. There’s a lot of misconception between acute and skilled nursing rehab. We want to get our name out there and explain the difference so people who need therapy can go to the appropriate place,” said Tasha Djurovic from Porter Regional Hospital.

Cassy Huber from NITCO said, “I really look forward to this event. It’s a great opportunity to converse with local businesses and to meet newer businesses. It really opens up everyone’s world.”

“It’s a big community based event and it’s great because everyone gets a chance to see what’s going on and what we can offer to people in our community,” said Tami Nicksic with St. Mary Medical Center.

Margo Leabo from Avalon Springs Health Campus said “We are here to support the city of Valpo and Porter County and make everybody aware of what we have to offer for the seniors on the community.”

“I’m here to support our Franciscan mission and that is to share all of our services in the community with Northwest Indiana,” said Marci Crozier with Franciscan Health.

Natalie Reisen with Rittenhouse Senior Living said, “I like going booth to booth. I like telling people what we have to offer and dropping it off at the tables. We come year after year.”

“We want to help bring awareness about our facility, our licensed assisted living, our short-stay rehab and what the Symphony has to offer. This is a great multi chamber event. We can learn about people that we can partner with and they can learn about us as well,” said Angela Boland with Symphony of Chesterton.

Kara Moon with General Insurance Services said, “This is one of our favorite events of the year. We get to see a lot of clients and catch up with people in the community, so we have a lot of fun with it.”

“We know how important it is to get out there and network with the community. We want to let individuals know that we are here for them with savings accounts, checking accounts, or anything they need,” said Dorene Martinson with First Trust Credit Union.

Ryan Turner with BucherTech said, “We want to be present. We try to be a community-focused organization, and we just want our presence known.”

1st Source Bank’s Lori Moulton said, “We are chamber members and we love to be apart of this event. It’s a great way to showcase 1st Source and what we offer to our customers.”

“We are so excited to meet fellow businesses in the surrounding areas. I have met so many people that have to come to our booth saying they loved the Memorial Opera House and that they wanted more information on us. That’ so exciting to see how many people have been there,” said Amanda Dietrich with the Memorial Opera House.

Benjamin Van Sickle with Centers of Pain Control and Vein Care said, “We find it’s important to be apart of the community and educate people the options out there for pain management. We like to educate the community so they can make great decisions for themselves.”

“We love Chamber Network Night. We have been doing this for about 10 years. It makes networking fun. You get to meet a lot of people in the business community and in the community in general. It’s a great way to get your name out there,” said Analisa Warring with REGIONAL Federal Credit Union.

Elliott Miller with Porter-Starke Services Inc. said, “This is always a great event. A lot of individuals throughout Porter County come out to support it. It’s a great way to interact with the community.”

“We want to get to know what businesses have to offer and in turn, what we have to offer. We like getting to know what newer companies are coming to the area,” said Cathy Ellis with the Life Care Center of Valparaiso.

Cathy Horning with Blue Chip Casino, Hotel & Spa said, “This is a good chance to meet our partners and members of the chamber. We get to say what’s coming up for the fall and winter at Blue Chip. We’re just trying to get the word out.”

StoryPoint’s Judy Kukelka said, “We are excited to part of Porter County. Tonight is a great opportunity to reach all the business people in the community, and people that live and work in Porter County. It’s a great opportunity to be in front of all these people.”

“We’re trying to get to know people and get some more revenue coming in. It’s good to meet new people. I want to get the word out of what we do and how we do it,” said Dustin Oehlman from One Guy With Tools.

Melissa Huffman with Residences at Coffee Creek said, “We are promoting our new location in Chesterton. This is our first event here so we are excited to be apart of this amazing event. The chambers do a wonderful job.”

Brandon Kapitan with Lakeside Wealth Management said, “It’s good to see everyone in the community. It’s the occasional time during the year where we can get everyone in one spot.”

“I wanted to witness what this event is, since it's my first time. It’s nice to expose who we are to this significant amount of people. It’s a great opportunity to expose our company to the general public,” said Neil Samahon, CEO of Metro Recycling.

Karol Siwietz with Horizon Bank said, “This is a good event to promote our company, give back the community and tell people what we are all about.”

“We’re coming out to share the love! Meeting people is great. This is our third year, we love it,” said Jamie Rodriguez with Hospice of the Calumet Area.

Donna Demko with the Valparaiso Family YMCA said, “We are promoting the mission of the YMCA. We want people to know about everything we have to offer, and the great programs we have to keep people healthy.”

“We’re helping Chicago Street Theatre to get their name out there. This is a great way to work with local businesses and to get more people to know about us,” said Rachel Forsyth with Chicago Street Theatre.

Amanda Carney with Lakes of Valparaiso said, “We want everyone to know we are open and almost finished with construction. We want people to know about our location and our housing, and this is a great way to promote it.”

“This is a great to network and have fun. We love this event, and we’ve been coming for 10 years. People can see what we showcase, and I like that people enjoy it. It’s like a friend reunion rather than business, said Bob Wszolek from Steindler Signs & Graphics.