Photo by Aila Boyd
Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce held its annual Business Awards Breakfast last Friday at the Salem Civic Center.
The ceremony started with a buffet breakfast that was prepared by Salem Catering. Toni McLawhorn, from Virginia Career Works, provided the welcome and introduction. “We would like to welcome you to our Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce 89th annual awards program,” she said. She is a past president of the chamber and chair of the awards committee. “We are so glad to see so many people in this room today. It’s so nice to be back together with people and have such a great turnout.”
Wendy Delano, from the Salem Civic Center, and Christopher Finley, from LewisGale, provided toasts for the event.
“I just want to say thank you for attending this event. The chamber is an instrumental part of our community,” Delano said.
Finley said that LewisGale was honored to be one of the event’s sponsors.
Courtesy of Lucie Benevise
Ashley King, from Roanoke County and current chamber president, and Dee King, from Land Records Research, LLC, announced the awards.
“It’s my honor to present you with these awards,” King said.
The winners included:
- Citizen of the Year: Bill & June Long
- Volunteer of the year: Gary Lautenschlager
- Ambassador of the Year: Stephanie Carroll
- Salem Small Business of the Year: Gina’s “Food With Flavor”
- Roanoke County Small Business of the Year: Wine Gourmet & Medmont Mercantile
- Salem Large Business of the Year: Roanoke College
- Roanoke County Large Business of the Year: Blue Eagle Credit Union
- Franchise of the Year: SERVPRO
- Regional Business of the Year: LewisGale Medical Center
- Nonprofit of the Year: Good Samaritan Hospice
- Salem Police Officer of the Year: Officer Christopher Hayth
- Roanoke County Police Officer of the Year: Officer III Kevin Cahoon
- Salem Fire-EMS of the Year: Stuart Candler
- Roanoke County Fire & Rescue of the Year: Captain Brandon King, Lieutenant Brian Budnick, Paramedic/Firefighter Trevor Dudding, Firefighter Nicole Martin, Paramedic/Firefighter Kenis Maciel, Firefighter Neil Gardner
Courtesy of Lucie Benevise
Amanda Livingston, the chamber’s executive director, provided the closing remarks. “It’s great to be with you all today,” she said.
She encouraged those in attendance to attend the upcoming business showcase that is scheduled for May 5. “This is going to be a really big, dynamic event,” she said. “We’re going to have a business social networking event and we will have booth rentals.”
