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Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas announces award winners

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Thu, Oct 7th 2021 12:45 pm

The Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas will celebrate the achievements of local difference-makers at its annual dinner and installation of officers on Nov. 4 at Events at The Wurlitzer, 908 Niagara Falls Blvd., North Tonawanda.

This year’s winners include:

√ Business of the Year: Webster’s Bistro & Bar

√ Citizen of the Year: Arthur G. Pappas

√ Not-for-Profit: YWCA of the Niagara Frontier

√ COVID Leadership and Community Engagement Award – Copier Fax Business Technologies Inc.

About the Awardees

•Webster’s Bistro and Bar opened in the spring of 2013. The Hughes family could have chosen any neighborhood for their business; however, North Tonawanda is where they made this thriving restaurant their business home. They even expanded to open Webster’s Kitchen, another showplace of Webster Street.

Barb and Kevin Hughes are leaders in the community always caring about people they serve and the other businesses that have come to call them friend.

•Pappas has served as mayor of the City of North Tonawanda since Jan. 1, 2015. He served as alderman-at-large (starting in November 2014) before being appointed mayor by the Common Council. He subsequently ran for mayor and was elected. Art lives in North Tonawanda with his wife, Linda. 

He has served on many different boards in the community for several years. In addition to serving on the board of the Tonawandas’ Chamber of Commerce, he served on the North Tonawanda Board of Education for 17 years and was president for 10 of those years. Art has also served on the North Tonawanda Youth Board Committee for 30 years, served as a commissioner to the North Tonawanda Housing Authority, served on the board of the United Way, and serves as a board member of the Tonawandas’ Historical Society. He also served on the NCCC board of trustees for nine years – two as chairman. Art is a current member of the board of the Lumber City Development Corp., an organization tasked with growing North Tonawanda using state and federal grants to fund business start-ups and citywide infrastructure developments and improvements.

•In January of 2014, a small group of staff and volunteers from the YWCA of Niagara and the YWCA of the Tonawanda’s and Niagara Frontier began meeting to discuss the future of both organizations. This was the informal start of a conversation that eventually culminated in the two agencies joining forces to ensure long-term sustainability of critical programs and services for women and families in Niagara County. In order to ensure the new agency design was the best possible outcome, the team worked hard on issues such as staffing, financial sustainability and due diligence, mission and program development, organizational culture and communication with the community and all stakeholders. In the end, the final merger took a year of hard work, collaboration and compromise that resulted in a new agency: the YWCA of the Niagara Frontier.

•In 2020, the Chamber of Commerce postponed its yearly business awards, but decided to recognize one member who, during the pandemic, demonstrated an exemplary level of leadership and community engagement. This recognition includes assistance with the needs of the community and servicing the needs of customers and employees. Criteria in each of these areas were evaluated with emphasis on engagement to assist other businesses/individuals to maintain growth and become/remain successful during these trying times. Copier Fax Business Technologies was selected, based on the Documentelligence package offered to businesses.

Overall, Copier Fax Business Technologies is an office technology provider, specializing in hardware, software, IT, and document management.

Dinner tickets are available. Call the Chamber of Commerce at 716-692-5120 or contact Sarah Nelson at [email protected].

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