St. Johns County residents:
Over the last several weeks most of us have had to change or modify the way we do business on a daily basis. Unfortunately for some, that has meant temporarily shutting down your business and making difficult choices as it relates to your employees. The terms “essential” and “non-essential” have become a regular part of our vocabulary when discussing businesses and workers. However, when you own or operate a business and you, your employees and their families depend on that business to make a living, there is no such thing as “non-essential.”
We have been encouraged by many of our Chamber members who have stepped up and helped other businesses by sharing their knowledge and expertise through a virtual communications platform we have implemented.
In the coming days and weeks as our county and region begin to reopen its economy, the Chamber will continue to do our part by providing valuable information to assist our members and our business community move into the next phase in what has been a very challenging time in our history.
A couple of weeks ago we shared a video with our membership where I discussed our shared vision for our future beyond this crisis, and we remain optimistic about what that future holds. It is vital that the Chamber continues to lead the way and set our expectations high for recovery in St. Johns County. We will emerge stronger and better from what we have gone through if we adapt and evolve our businesses to the new landscape.
We stand on the edge of a new day for our county, our determination and resiliency as a community has been tested unlike never before. As we have done in the past with hurricanes and economic downturns, we have not only embraced our challenges, we have overcome them. We look forward to the many stories to come of how businesses and individuals used their resolve, their willingness to try something new, and their ingenuity to forge new possibilities for a better way forward.
Mark Nighbor
St. Johns Chamber Chairman of the Board
