VW Chamber holds 98th annual dinner

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert Area Chamber of Commerce honored businesses and individuals Wednesday evening during its 98th Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony, while also hearing a panel talk about the importance of a project to revitalize Van Wert’s downtown area.

Major award winners included Vancrest Health Care Centers President Mark White, who received the prestigious Ray Miller Award, which is given to Van Wert County residents who show a strong commitment to the community through volunteer work, participation in community organizations, including the Chamber, and outstanding service to the area.

“Mark personifies the true meaning of a community champion and he has promoted the development of the very footprint of Van Wert through his extensive real estate and economic development efforts,” said Pat Ryan in announcing the Ray Miller Award winner.

In addition to work as a trustee for Ohio Northern University, The Van Wert County Foundation, and Business Development Corporation, White has also sat on the boards of the former Van Wert National Bank, the Van Wert County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Van Wert Port Authority, and Salvation Army. In addition, White is a former Van Wert City Council member and former Council president.

In accepting the award, White talked about how Vancrest is the culmination of his father’s dream to establish a nursing home in Van Wert, as well as his and his siblings’ struggles to keep the business operating when their parents both died while in their 50s when White was 16 and 20, respectively.

“It’s truly an honor to receive this award, to be amongst the previous recipients,” White said, while also thanking three men, Vaughn Rinard, Bob Ruhlen, and Dick Louth, who he said had a tremendous impact on his life as mentors.

White also talked about Vancrest’s downtown development efforts, which he said was begun before “downtown revitalization was cool”.

The other major award, the Crystal Image Award, went to the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation — the city and county’s economic development office.

The award is given to a business or organization that provides leadership by its many contributions. In announcing the winner, Chamber Board Chair Debby Compton talked about the VWAEDC’s many efforts to develop the county, including its work to retain and promote existing businesses, implement solutions to drive investment locally, and facilitate the creation of new jobs in Van Wert County.

The entity serves as the grant administrator for the county while also managing the Revolving Loan Fund, which provides funds for small business development. Since 2016, when the VWAEDC was created to merge city and county development offices, the RLF has increased 45 percent, with nearly $800,000 loaned to new and existing businesses.

The VWAEDC also administers the county land bank, which has acquired more than 70 properties in the county, which have then been renovated and the property revitalized.

“What an honor,” said Stacy Adam, VWAEDC executive director, in receiving the award.

“When I think about this community: we have a clean, safe community, low cost of living, thanks to a few, we’ve got now a solution to affordable, available housing in Van Wert,” she said. “We have so many facilities for a community our size, and great schools.”

Adam also commended the foresight of the Van Wert County commissioners and city officials for the decision to merge their operations, while also thanking VWAEDC’s development partners, such as the Chamber, BDC, and state development agencies for their commitment to the community.

“The one thing we have in common is that we are committed to this community,” she said. “We are not sitting back and crossing our fingers and hoping it gets better; we are not sitting back and waiting for some agency to come in and fix it for us. 

“People in this community are taking action, they are rolling up their sleeves, they are investing in this community, and they are making Van Wert an even better place,” she added. “I think we have hard work left to do, I think we’re on our way, and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.”

Following a dinner catered by Willow Bend Country Club, the Chamber began by honoring companies and organizations that had major construction/renovation projects with its Golden Shovel Award. Companies so honored this year included Adriel Inc., Bee Gee Realty & Auction Company, CSL Contracting LLC, Casey’s General Store, GKN Freight Services Inc., The Marsh Foundation, and Vancrest Health Care Center.

The Chamber also awarded Milestone Awards to those companies that reached significant milestones during 2019. Those include Tisha Fast State Farm Insurance Agency (five years), Truly D’Vine (five years), Brand It Marketing (15 years), Van Wert Vision Ltd. (15 years), Citizens National Bank (100 years), Van Wert County Regional Airport (100 years), Van Wert Federal Savings Bank (130 years), Van Wert Fire Department (150 years), and The Times-Bulletin (175 years).

Following the awards presentation, a panel facilitated by Chris Roberts of WERT/WKSD Radio talked about an ongoing downtown revitalization project being led by the Van Wert County Foundation. Panel members included Foundation Executive Secretary Seth Baker; Eric Doden, president of developer PAGO USA and former director/CEO of Greater Fort Wayne, who has led The Landing development in Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Jason Duff, founder and CEO of Small Nation, a development group that transformed the downtown area of Bellefontaine into a thriving business and residential community.

Panel members talked about how revitalizing the downtowns of Fort Wayne and Bellefontaine have led to a economic development renaissance in those communities, while Baker talked about how the foundation and its development partners hope to do something similar here in Van Wert.

Chamber President/CEO Mark Verville also thanked annual dinner premier sponsors Central Insurance Companies, and Van Wert Health, and the many other sponsors of the event.

Chamber Milestone Award winners pose during Wednesday’s Annual Dinner.