Business Success, Community Spirit Go Hand in Hand for Chamber Honorees

Local business owners showered the people behind , Restaurant and Keepsake Family Tree Video with applause at the ’s annual meeting and dinner. 

Each business was the recipient was of one of the chamber’s annual awards, given out this year at a reception highlighted by . Several hundred people packed the ballroom at the , enjoying a four-course meal before chamber president Steven Lewis took the podium.

“The Northbrook Chamber is hands-down the best chamber on the North Shore,” he said, noting that even during a recession, the chamber added members last year, bring the total number to more than 700 local businesses.

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“Our chamber is now one of the largest in the Chicago region,” he said.

In the future, Lewis said he hoped to make community service a bigger focus of the chamber. Over the next three years, the organization has committed to donating $5,000 of fundraising proceeds to the North Suburban YMCA, to support scholarships in its childcare programs for working parents.

“I’m especially proud of this direction, as we plan to take on more community projects in the future,” he said. Then he moved on to announced the winners of the chamber’s yearly awards.

Highland Baking owners Jim and Gail Rosen were named Corporate Citizens of the Year for their service to the community. The company has almost doubled in size since 2007, with 530 employees now working in its 250,000-square-foot facility.

“They not only operate a large business, but they have big hearts,” Lewis said.

The Rosens are among the top ten donors to the Chicago Food Depository, he said. They also regularly donate bread products to Northbrook Days and to local schools during food drives. When Glenbrook North is having an event and needs extra parking, the Rosens offer up the lot at Highland Baking, just across the street.

“Hopefully, these few examples paint a picture of their generosity,” he said.

In the small business department, downtown restaurant Marcello’s took home the award for small business of the year. The Italian eatery opened up in Northbrook in 2007 and “brought a new vitality and energy to downtown,” Lewis said. Two years later, the restaurant added on a banquet room that is a perennial favorite for bar and bat mitzvahs, fundraisers and other gatherings.

Accepting the award, a representative from Marcello’s compared the restaurant to Cheers—a place where every regular is a character and the bartender knows your name.

Meanwhile, Keepsake Family Tree Video owner Dan Gelfond was honored with the award for Chamber Volunteer of the Year. For the past ten years, Gelfond has run the chamber’s First Friday networking breakfasts—and nearly doubled attendance.

“I wholeheartedly agree with Dan’s mantra: if you attend consistently, I guarantee you will get business from this group,” Lewis said. “Thanks for setting your alarm and not letting us down.”