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 Grand opening!
Norwest Insurance Services
Allstate is happy to
be servicing Washington and Idaho. We are located in the Liberty
Square Building. Garry Newman is the agency owner along with Tenille Von Behren and Micah
Munroe as licensed insurance agents to take care of your insurance
needs! There has been a HUGE rate reduction in Eastern Washington and
we would like to pass those savings to you! Please join us along with
the Spokane Valley Chamber and Post Falls Chamber in our ribbon cutting,
open house and BBQ! Twice the networking and lots of fun! Bring the
kids! There will be games and prizes. July 22nd at 5 P.M. See you
there!
 PHEASANT HILL INN AND SUITES…….GOING GREEN
Going green is a
national issue and like all businesses, it has hit the hospitality
industry. Our hotel community has been discussing this and
looking for ways to serve our guests well and yet protect the city we all
love. It is a difficult balancing act and one which we have worked
tirelessly on for the past two years.
The first step, auditing what the hotel uses on a day to day basis and how
to purchase differently or use other products and still maintain guest
satisfaction was a huge eye opener!!
The Pheasant Hill Inn and Suites like many limited service properties
provides a full hot breakfast to our guests each morning. For years
….as in since 1996, the hotel used paper plates, cups, service ware to
serve breakfast on. We maintained hot food in the breakfast room with a sterno, a jellied fuel substance that creates heat for
about two hours. For many years that practice has been
acceptable, it was clean, convenient and clean up was not labor
intensive.
As we started counting how many paper plates and cups used on an annual
basis, the number was staggering and all headed to our landfills…..60,000
plates, 45,000 cups, nearly 120,000 pieces of service ware were disposed of
each year. We used 2500 cans of sterno
annually, what can you do with an empty sterno
can?
We then added the number of shampoo, conditioner and hand lotion bottles
that we put in 104 rooms each day as guest amenities, how many bars of
soap, more paper cups for in room coffee and a second set of staggering
numbers hits home the need for change. We use nearly 40,000 bottles
of shampoo, conditioner and hand lotion annually to provide our guests with
a great experience and quality products. The number of plastic
bottles used to provide those amenities just never entered our thinking
….until we decided to be green.
An energy audit has helped us to realize that fluorescent bulbs rather than
incandescent light bulbs saves dollars in electricity and reduces the
carbon imprint we leave to do business each day, how we heat our water,
light our building, wash nearly a ton of linens each year all fell under
the “green microscope”.
During this time our staff members made regular suggestions, going green
had made our team more aware of how they do their job and ways to reduce
waste, energy and provide a great hotel stay with a much reduced impact on
our Spokane Environment.
It sounds easy to say…..just buy another product to serve your
guests. In those decisions we have to ask how we will keep it clean,
maintain it well, insure guest satisfaction, and meet all of the laws and
regulations that a hotel must comply with. Two years into the project
we are proud of what we have achieved.
Elavon
The Costco
membership alone has many benefits, but the Costco membership added with
the merchant service opportunity offers twice as much value for businesses.
For 13 years Costco has offered a merchant service program through Elavon that is designed specifically and exclusively
for Costco business members.
Kelly Carlstrom, employed by Elavon,
represents the Spokane and North Idaho Region offering credit card
processing through Costco.
As you might expect from Costco, our program offers a great value,
exceptional service, and is simple, and transparent with no hidden fee
structure. We also strive to understand the business member, and help
them find ways to retain customers, and access and track new customers
through their merchant program.
 Inland Northwest
Blood Center
Today
members of Fire and Police Departments in Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene
as well as the Boy Scouts from Coeur d’Alene and the Miss Spokane Valley
Ambassadors assisted us in recruiting donors. Regal Cinemas in the
Spokane Valley also donated movie tickets for donors to win.
Additionally,
we announced the Battle of the Badge Blood Drive Challenge winner. The
Spokane Valley Fire Department won the challenge for the second year in a
row and was presented with the traveling Battle of the Badge plaque live on
the radio.
We
will have members of the military at our locations assisting in the
recruitment of donors, as well as donating themselves.
The Numbers
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Location:
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2009:
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2010:
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Gain/Loss:
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Columbia
Basin
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27
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26
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-1
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North Idaho
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64
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75
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+11
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Spokane Valley
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55
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26
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-19
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Spokane Center
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100
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Totals for Day 3:
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246
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187
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-59
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Monique (Dugaw) Cotton
Marketing & Communication
Inland Northwest Blood Center
Email: monique.cotton@inbc2.org
New Deans at Work at Spokane Community College
 Terri Armstrong is
Spokane Community College’s new dean of instruction for health and
environmental sciences.
Formerly director of
the Oregon Center for Health Professions in Klamath Falls, Ore., Armstrong
oversaw 12 health care programs and was a member of a facilities team
charged with designing and constructing a new 95,000-square-foot health
care facility. She has a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene from OIT and
master’s degree in health psychology from Capella
University’s online degree program. Armstrong currently is a doctoral
candidate in education through online Northcentral
University.
 Dave Cox has been
named SCC’s dean of instruction for technical education.
Previously, he
served as the division’s acting dean. A graduate of Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Ind., Cox has a bachelor’s degree in
industrial/vocational education and a master’s degree in technology
education from Montana State University (MSU), Billings. He has taught
vocational welding and industrial arts at Capital High School in Helena,
Mont., and was a part-time professor in mechanical engineering technology
at MSU. Cox joined the faculty at North Idaho College, Coeur d’Alene, in
2005 where he taught welding.
In 2006, Cox was
hired as an assistant dean of professional/technical and rural education at
Community Colleges of Spokane, working as a liaison between SCC and the
Institute for Extended Learning’s rural education centers.
Once Upon A Child®
Achieves 'Gold Standard’
 Once Upon A Child of Spokane, located at 14401 E SpragueAvenue, has gone gold! The local
gently-used children’s reseller was recognized for achieving a "Gold
Standard" measurement.
The Gold Standard is
reached when a store achieves a set of standards set forth by the
franchisor during the evaluation process. The Spokane store achieved the
customer experience, store operations and consistent brand identity to earn
Gold Standard recognition for the second consecutive year.
"Being
recognized as a Gold Standard store is a very significant accomplishment,
but even more, it means we’re succeeding in providing our customers the
best shopping experience possible," said Thomas Lewis, owner of Once
Upon A Child of Spokane. "Portraying a standardized look and
maintaining a high level of experience for my customers helps ensure a
consistent brand appearance, which in turn contributes to a more positive shopping
experience. By reaching the Gold Standard, we’re helping create an identity
that customers recognize and value."
To identify a Once
Upon A Child Gold Standard store, look for the Gold Standard seal at the
store or visit www.onceuponachild.com
where Gold Standard stores are recognized on the store locator page.
"Once Upon A
Child provides a place for parents to buy and sell their quality, gently
used kids stuff for their ever-growing children -- saving them time and
money," Lewis said. The Spokane location sells a wide selection of new
and used kids stuff, such as apparel, furniture, equipment and toys.
Franchised and
branded under Winmark Corporation -- a company
that develops and supports franchises and provides financial services for
retail stores that buy, sell, and trade new and used merchandise -- Once
Upon A Child® has over 235 locations in North America, and all stores are
individually owned and operated.
"We are very
proud to recognize the Spokane location for reaching their goals and
contributing to the Once Upon A Child overall mission to deliver the best
brand experience in the industry," said Susan Baustian,
director of Once Upon A Child.
 Skyline Inland NW
Hosts Lunch and Learn Seminar - 60 Trade Show Tips in 60 Minutes
Now who said there
was no such thing as a free lunch? Skyline Inland NW is hosting a
free lunch seminar on Wednesday August 4, from
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. on 60 Trade Show Tips in 60 Minutes. The premise of
the seminar is to take some of the topics that were discussed at our recent
seminar and translate those into actual tips any organization can use in
their trade show program. Some of the topics are from real life experiences
Skyline INW clients have faced on the trade show floor.
We cover everything
from promotional techniques, budgeting guidelines, shipping tips and ways
to minimize those dreaded drayage fees. Lunch will be provided.
Call Sarah to
register today at 509-892-5354! Registration is required.
Spokane Is Reading Welcomes Timothy Egan for
2010 Spokane County Library Event
Spokane Is Reading
2010 presents Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter and award-winning author
Timothy Egan and his non-fiction book, The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and
the Fire that Saved America.
Mr. Egan will give
two free presentations Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010: 1pm @ The Sons of Norway
(6710 N. Country Homes Blvd.), and 7pm @ The Bing, (901 W. Sprague –
downtown). Both presentations are followed by a book signing, and Auntie’s
Bookstore will be selling copies of Mr. Egan’s work. No registration for
either appearance is required. For additional information, visit
www.spokaneisreading.org.
The Big Burn depicts events beginning the afternoon of
August 20, 1910 when strong winds moved through the drought-stricken
national forests of Washington, Idaho and Montana, whipping hundreds of
small blazes, destroying towns and timber.
Mr. Egan narrates
the struggles of the overwhelmed rangers against the fire and delves into
President Teddy Roosevelt and his chief forester, Gifford Pinchot, as they
took on the concept of national conservation.
Timothy Egan is the
author of six books. His fifth book, The Worst Hard Time, won a
National Book Award for non-fiction in 2006 and was named a New York
Times Editor’s Choice, a New York Times Notable Book, a
Washington State Book Award winner, and a Book Sense Book of the Year Honor
Book. Additional books include The
Good Rain, Breaking
Blue, and Lasso
the Wind. In 2001, he was part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning
team that wrote the series “How Race Is Lived in America” for The New
York Times. Mr. Egan also has a weekly feature in the online “Opinionator” column for the New York Times.
Spokane Is Reading
is a joint community read sponsored and produced by Spokane Public Library,
Spokane County Library District and Auntie's Bookstore. Designed to
encourage reading in the region, it’s one of the longest-running community
reads in the state of Washington, and has celebrated such authors as
Sherman Alexie, Jess Walter, Garth Stein, Laurie
R. King and Kent Haruf, to name a few.
Contact:
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Eva Silverstone
Communications Manager
Spokane Public Library
esilverstone@spokanelibrary.org
509.444.5307
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Beth Gillespie
Communications Manager
Spokane County Library District
bgillespie@scld.org
509.893.8205
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 American Family Insurance Agency Seminar
Come learn how
you can build your own business the American Family way. Unlike some
options you may have considered, you don't have to "buy your way
in" with us. You provide the determination and drive, and American
Family Insurance will give you the tools to help you succeed!
Finance Plan with
a Guaranteed Monthly Income
This is YOUR
personal invitation to succeed. Please join us.
When: July 21, AND
July 28, 2010
Time: 5:30 PM
Where: 15920 E. Indiana Ave, Suite 100
Spokane, WA 99216
If you are unable to
attend, please contact me 509-921-5566 or aschell@amfam.com. I would
be happy to arrange a more convenient time when we can meet. I look forward
to talking with you soon! Amy Schell.
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