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It was a beautiful day to network at the monthly Elizabethtown-White Lake Chamber of Commerce lunch. Dawn Maynard, Chamber Director and Miss Bladenboro, Lindsey Herring were the speakers today.

The Chamber’s members have missed Maynard, who had been out due to ankle surgery. Today, she lead the Chamber with her bright smile and assured everyone she was doing well. Brenda Clark, with the Town of White Lake, also mentioned her grandson, Cody Clark went for his first day of school yesterday and is down to one medication per day. With all the great news the chamber meeting started on a positive note and continued with that momentum.

Miss Bladenboro was graceful and eloquent as she spoke to the crowd. “I’m the first Miss Bladenboro to represent Bladen County in the Miss North Carolina Scholarship Pageant. I’m very blessed to have this honor to represent this community as a whole in Raleigh, at the Miss North Carolina Scholarship Pageant, in June this year.” Herring has goals set for herself before the big event in June. Herring announced, “I will be going around to all the schools in our community to share my platform on anti-bullying, which is called, ‘Be a Hero’.”

This is an admirable campaign Herring has started. She gave some testimony as to why she picked bullying as her platform. “Bullying is something that is close to my heart. I was bullied from 5th grade until about 7th grade and it affected my life severely. I want to go out and help other kids with my story, and give them points, and places to go where they can feel safe. I want to let them know, school is a place you should feel safe at.” Herring explained. The affects of bullying this beauty queen experienced helped build her relationship with God and made her the person she is today. The community is encouraged to help support Miss Bladenboro, Lindsey Herring, as she represents all of Bladen County this year. For information on how to make donation and support Herring, please visit the Miss Bladenboro website, www.missbladenboro.com or visit their Facebook Page. All donations will be tax deductible.

Dawn Maynard, Chamber Director took the floor and shared, “I want to clear a few things up so people don’t get confused. We are having the White Lake Water Festival this year, and hopefully next year and the year after that. Some people think since some of the events have be eliminated, that we are at risk not to have the festival.” The White Lake Water Festival will be May 15th, 16th, and 17th, 2015. A street dance will kick off the festival, Friday night, then, Saturday there will be a parade and festivities all day. The festival will end with a band and dance at The Venue.

Summer Concert Series are being planned and in need of volunteers and sponsors. Maynard said, “We have raised enough money, that I feel comfortable that we will be able to have four concerts. We will have two in July and two in August.” The first concert will feature the ‘Band of Oz’. Volunteers and sponsors are needed. Cape Fear Valley Hospital, Four County, McDuffie Pest Control, Campbell Oil Company, Minuteman Food Mart, Bladen Builders Supply, Tatum Realty, and Maynard Law Firm are some of the sponsors already committed to the concert events. Be on the look out for more information about how to support these events.

Members were given forms to nominate worthy people for the awards given out at the Annual Chamber Banquet. The chamber is seeking nominations for Outstanding Chamber Member, Outstanding Small Business of the Year Award, the Caring Person of the Year Award, and the Honorary Lifetime Member Award. There will be an email sent out as well asking for nominations for folks that did not attend today’s meeting.