WAYNE – Normally each Friday morning at 10 a.m. community members in Wayne would gather and attend the weekly chamber coffee event. But with the chamber office wanting to abide by having groups of 10 or less and practice social distancing, Wayne Area Economic Development took to social media.
Executive Director Luke Virgil with WAED went live at 10:15 a.m. this past Friday, March 20 on the Wayne, NE Facebook page during ‘ChamberPercs’.
Virgil went over his weekly announcements and said through the end of March chamber coffee is suspended.
“Maybe after the end of March we can reassess and say that we’ll be able to be it back or things will change and all across the nation will be able to bring it back,” said Virgil. “So, until the end of March, we’re going to have ChamberPercs instead of Chamber Coffee.”
Wayne residents can use the Family Resource Line by calling 402-375-3150 with local concerns or questions while state-wide general COVID-19 questions can be reached by contacting the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) at 402-522-6645.
“This is the state-wide hotline with questions, concerns or information about the COVID-19 situation and how that virus either affects you or those around you,” Virgil added. “So, we’d prefer you use this number if you have kind of general questions about this.”
Specific questions about an event or about your business can be found by contacting the Northeast Nebraska Public Health Department at 402-375-2200.
Virgil also added the reason of ChamberPercs.
“So, all of you will recognize our friendly chamber coffee percolator,” Virgil mentioned. “And that’s kind of the root of our ChamberPercs name. We hope to ‘perc’ you up a little bit with some of the fun stuff we’re going to do on these videos.”
Chamber coffee this week on Friday, March 27 will be similar starting around 10:15 a.m. on the Wayne, NE Facebook page. The Northeast Nebraska Legislative Forum that was originally scheduled Friday has been cancelled.
Chamber officials will continue to explore alternatives for the chamber coffee events that follow social distancing guidelines. They’ll look to invite those who were on the calendar in April as the first quests during the in-house ChamberPercs sessions.
Contact the WAED office at 402-375-2240 or visit wayneworks.org for more information.