A Great Day for Golf with the Chamber of Commerce

It was a warm, sunny day on June 27 at the Annual San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament. The tournament, which has been held for over 30 years, was set at the San Bernardino Golf Club and brought together members from all over the business community for a day out on the green. The golfers began arriving around 11 a.m. for a day of golfing as well as business networking. They were greeted at the check-in with goodie bags and opportunities to enroll in a raffle, reverse drawing, and putting contest. The annual tournament began decades ago to support Norton Air Force Base. The base has since closed but the chamber continues to give out an ROTC scholarship to support the military and uses the funds from the tournament to protect and promote business throughout the community. Chamber President/CEO Judi Penman, elaborated on the role of the chamber as well as on some misconceptions about how local businesses function. "[We are] the union for business," she said of the chamber. "We need to survive, too. People aren't overwhelmingly open to donate to business people because they assume they are well-off." Penman then went on to describe how the chamber does more for the business community and the community at large than most assume.