As a business owner himself, Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce President Chuck Aaron knows full well how 2020 has been a challenging year for businesses, small and large.

“It’s been a tough year, that’s for sure,” said Aaron, a longtime resident of Mount Olive and owner of Jersey Girl Brewing. “It hasn’t been easy for anybody.”

Aaron, who was re-elected to his post in December, is optimistic, though, that 2021 will see better times.

“Through it all I do have to say that our (chamber) members worked hard to do what they needed to do to keep moving forward,” said Aaron. “I believe the Chamber helped keep things as positive and engaging as possible with Zoom meetings, the monthly Business Builder series, Marketing in the Morning, and other special activities, some online, some hybrid, some in person. We’ve got good news with the vaccines, so we really think we’ll be in a much better place by the second quarter of 2021. In the meantime we’ll continue to provide events one way or another, and support, to our business members any way we can.”

Also re-elected to their positions on the Executive Board were Patrice Schaffer,  Vice President. Claudia Ehrgott (Secretary), Brian Ko (Treasurer) and Patti Singer (Corresponding Secretary).  Trustees for 2021 are Harry Browne, Manny Rizzuto, Matt Czigler, Bill Lockwood, Larry McEntee, and Craig Hanlon.

“Behind the scenes the chamber is doing a lot of planning,” said Aaron. “A great deal of effort is being put into it and when things get back to a more normal world we’ll be ready to really go full steam ahead.”

Aaron added, “I have a lot of confidence in our Board. They are a hard-working dynamic group of people. They are committed to a better business community.”

The Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce has been recognized as the fastest growing small chamber in the state. It represents members in Warren, Morris, and Sussex Counties. More than 170 businesses are members of the Mount Olive organization.