Photo Courtesy of Ellen Donker From left are SOMA Chamber of Commerce President Ellen Donker and Vice President Gary Jones, and immediate past Maplewood Chamber of Commerce President Diana Galer.
From left are SOMA Chamber of Commerce President Ellen Donker and Vice President Gary Jones, and immediate past Maplewood Chamber of Commerce President Diana Galer.
SOUTH ORANGE / MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The two towns are sharing one more organization as of Sept. 9, when the Maplewood Chamber of Commerce and the South Orange Chamber of Commerce merged into one body to serve both towns. The new SOMA Chamber of Commerce held its first meeting on Sept. 22, kicking off a new partnership between the businesses in the sister towns.
“Since the towns of Maplewood and South Orange function as one community in many ways, we believe that we can better serve our business community by existing as one chamber of commerce,” SOMA Chamber of Commerce President Ellen Donker said in an email to the News-Record on Sept. 20. “The organization can benefit by increasing membership and thereby having a more diverse array of businesses and member skills to access that will better support our tagline of ‘connect, learn, grow.’”
The new chamber kicked off its establishment at St. James’s Gate in Maplewood with a “Meet the Mayors” event, at which Maplewood Mayor Frank McGehee and South Orange Village President Sheena Collum shared the state of the towns and their visions for both. The marketing committee is working on a rebrand to update the social media pages and website with the organization’s new name and logo.
The chambers previously saw little overlap, as there were only two individuals who served on both the MCC and SOCC boards. They operated completely independently; Donker said they hadn’t worked together at all before joining forces.
The merger isn’t the only change on the horizon: The COVID-19 pandemic rendered in-person meetings a thing of the past for much of the last year and a half, but now members are starting to meet in person. It’ll be the first time many new chamber members meet one another.
“We will continue to host events, virtual or in person, that utilize the strengths of our members and enable them to network better,” said Donker, who was formerly a leader in the MCC. “After being remote for the past year and a half, we are all very eager to meet in person in as safe a manner as possible. With a larger pool of future members, we think we can increase the diversity of the chamber in terms of different industries and offer more opportunities for collaboration and education. Our membership committee looks forward to reaching out to the business community in South Orange and welcoming new members.”
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