Media Contact: Kristen Dare, ACE President/CEO Santee Chamber of Commerce 619.922.1031 dare@santeechamber.com Release Date: April 4, 2024 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Santee Chamber of Commerce Announces 2023 Person of the Year Santee, California - The Santee Chamber of Commerce is thrilled to announce the recipient of the prestigious Person of the Year award. This esteemed honor is bestowed upon an individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, dedication, and service to the Santee
Hello Santee! Last month a 72-year-old man collapsed on a softball field at Sportsplex USA Santee. Bystanders initiated CPR and delivered 2 shocks with an AED. Santee Fire Department crews assumed care and placed the patient on the LUCAS mechanical CPR device, administered additional shocks, and gave Advanced Life Support medications. During transport to the hospital, the patient regained a pulse, and his care was transferred to emergency room staff. The patient was later discharged and was set to follow
Hello Santee! Our city is the best mix of "big and small" sometimes. We have that big city access with a small town feel. How many of you can't leave the house without seeing someone you know? It's secretly one of my favorite things about Santee. Many of us know each other and our lives overlap in several areas. This is so true for small business. Many of their vendors and clients are also their neighbors, their kids attend the same school, you belong to the same service organization, the list can go
Hello Santee! As our Santee School District students just started their school year yesterday, I had the opportunity to help distribute backpacks at Buddy’s Backpacks & School Supply Drive on Saturday. There was many other volunteers from the Santee-Lakeside Rotary, the Santee School District, City Council Members amongst many other community partners. This is one of my favorite feel good moments and has been since I started to help with this program back in 2017 during my Miss Santee reign. This
Hello Santee! Thank you so much to everyone who came out to West Hills on Saturday for our first Santee Children’s Business Fair. We were invited to partner with teams from Momentum Tutoring and the Santee Kiwanis Club to host this awesome display of youth entrepreneurship. With over 40 vendors, kids from age 7 to 17 showed off their creative skillsets offering items from handmade jewelry, crocheted hats, sewn purses, miniature aquariums to original art and more. This was such a joy to watch come to
Hello Santee! Last week our community was able to Join the San Diego County Sheriff's Departmentfor National Night Out. National Night Out is an annual event that promotes law enforcement-community partnership and neighborhood camaraderie. You had the opportunity to meet your local Sheriff's Deputies and receive public safety resources. Crime Prevention Specialists shared tips on how to keep your families safe. You also got to meet members of their Sheriff's specialized and volunteer units such as
Hello Santee! I feel as though I catch myself bragging often about our community partners and leaders, so in true Kristen-fashion, I’ll continue that trend. I wanted to thank Cox Communications for hosting me and several guests at a Padres game last week. We have a dedicated representative (hey Allen Young!) who serves on our Government Affairs Committee and who regularly offers their support and insight for telecommunications solutions for our businesses and community at large. Of course, this leads
Hello Santee! Last Wednesday the Padre Dam Municipal Water District held their regular meeting of the board of directors at their customer service center on Fanita Parkway. However, this was far from “regular” as they also held a dedication ceremony for the August A. Caires Customer Service Center, honoring and commending Director Caires for his many accomplishments and dedicating the building as the “August A. Caires Customer Service Center" in appreciation for his 29 years of outstanding public
Hello Santee! Tuesday night was a special evening at the local American Legion and VFW Post. Naturally, most of us think we need to be a Veteran to belong to the post, but they offer memberships within their auxiliary groups and often times hosts events open to the public. This week was one of those times as they held their repeating Liberty & Libations from 6-9pm. They had several guest bartenders that were Santee favorites (Dean Velasco, Kristine Costa and Andy Lloyd) but my favorite of the evening
Hello Santee! It's pretty often we get to brag about our first responders and city leaders in town, but I don't mind doing it once more. Santee has some seriously caring, involved staff from city employees, elected officials, to safety personnel and beyond. The Santee Sheriff's Department hosted another community coffee this week at Coffee Corner and to no surprise, had great support from our community. If you missed this week's gathering but want to still get connected to local law enforcement,
Hello Santee! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July this week. Thanks to the City of Santee and Waste Management for the presentation of the fireworks many of us enjoyed from various parts of town – what a show! Prior to the holiday, we were able to celebrate a past board member, Kyle Whissel, as he officially showcased his new office opening for Whissel Realty in La Mesa. Much like Kyle, this building was designed with intention and style to provide a space for professional growth,
Hello Santee! Last week I attended the annual membership meeting for the East County Economic Development Council, hosted at Grossmont College. The ECEDC’s mission is to empower East County to create a thriving economic environment where education, business, government, and community can convene, collaborate, and compete. These ideals are a perfect partnership with any neighboring chamber of commerce as we are actively seeking out ways to fill the needs of businesses from the bottom up. It was my
Hello Santee! Last week the City kicked off their Summer Concert Series. Although there was quite the excitement towards the end of the evening, the Santee Chamber was pleased to be a small part of the opening ceremony as we joined Mission Realty Group agent and Miss Santee Program Director, Lauren Gaines. We said goodbye and thank you to the titleholders of 2022 Miss Santee Heather Cantin, Miss Teen Santee Julianna Abrajan and Junior Miss Santee Ezrah Collier; their immense amount of community
Hello Santee! Our staff became so consumed with the Santee Street Fair last month, I almost forgot to share about a night out with chamber member Ryan Purdy. Ryan is the Community Relations and Senior Resource Center Manager at Sharp Grossmont Hospital and an active participant on our Government Affairs Committee. He is as kind as he is intelligent, offering Sharp a perfect fit for his role. He was generous enough to open the invitation for me to join him at Sharp Grossmont's table at Fostering Futures'
Hello Santee! On Saturday the Santee Chamber hosted our annual Santee Street Fair on Riverview Parkway behind Trolley Square. This event is such a massive undertaking for our small staff and board members. I really appreciate every single volunteer (especially Mr. Volunteer, Charli Plavi who is pictured with our staff)… there is no way this event would be possible without the unwavering support of the community and those who help to pull it off with our team. Our staff gals work insane hours leading
The Roadrunners of Rio Seco School won top honors at the Santee Kiwanis Junior Olympic Track and Field meet held on April 29th this year. This annual event showcases both the fitness and competitive spirit of our 4th-8th grade student athletes and their schools. This year, the stands were filled with parents/grandparents cheering on their students as Rio Seco’s athletes won the 6th—8th grade school competition for the second year in a row. Well done to all the schools, their teachers and students who
Hello Santee! Last week I had the pleasure of attending CalChamber’s Capitol Summit in Sacramento. As a first-time attendee, I was so excited to finally make it to this event as the only East County Chamber represented onsite. The program opened with remarks from veteran journalist Dan Walters, columnist for CalMatters, followed by a panel session which focused on housing/homelessness. The keynote speaker was ever-impressive Dee Dee Myers, senior advisor to the Governor, director of the Governor’s Office
It’s almost that time of year the 2023 East County Boys & Girls Golf Event is around the corner. I've been working with the East County Boys & Girls Club for the past nine years helping create one of the best golf experiences in San Diego. This event wouldn’t be possible without your help. This annual event will be held on Friday, June 2th at Sycuan Golf Resorton the newly renovated Oaks Glen Course. I ask you to consider a foursome, sponsorship, on course participation or giveaway for our opportunity
Hello Santee! We are still buzzing off the good energy that came from our Santee Heroes Celebration at the end of April. Carlton Oaks Golf hosted a beautiful evening of Santee Service Organizations, Local Educators, First Responders, Healthcare Workers, Community Leaders, and Elected Officials to receive recognition for their personal and group impact in our region and honor their contributions over the past year. It was a huge pleasure to honor our past Board Director, Jim Peasley, as his family
Hello Santee! Last week was busy with the Chamber having events back-to-back at Carlton Oaks Golf Course so let me start by saying thank you to our staff and volunteers for the extra work, it didn’t go unnoticed. Additionally, I’d like to thank San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson for taking the time to get Santee on his schedule as we co-hosted a community coffee last Wednesday. His impressive staff and team of interns put together an organized evening of resources and Supervisor Anderson stayed
When people experience a traumatic event, the date of that event can sometimes live on with them, even plaguing them with anxiety as that date nears. For years, I have watched calendars end out the month of February and I immediately felt uneasy as we knowingly entered into the month of March. This year, that anxiety struck me a tad early as I sat in early February realizing that next month, March 5th marks the 20-year anniversary of the shooting at Santana High School. I'm not alone in the acknowledgement