When I was staying with my parents down in Ft. Lauderdale, one night we decided to go to Sweet Tomato in Boca Raton for dinner. Sweet Tomato is a yummy all-you-can-eat salad bar. They also have a variety of soups, pastas and fresh baked muffins and breads. We met my brother and his family there. When we all arrived, there was a huge line. My first reaction, early bird special in Florida!

But I was mistaken. It wasn’t the early bird special, it was the last day to use a coupon.

The line was so long that the shop owners in the strip mall were complaining. It seemed like most of the people on line were over the age of 70. I looked down and noticed that everyone seemed to be holding something. They were holding the same thing, a coupon. The local paper had a special, buy two get two free. It was the last day to use the coupon before it expired.

We are representing two awards ceremonies this fall. However, they are both looking for nominations right now!

Have a Small Biz?

The first is the the fourth annual New York Enterprise Report Small Business Awards gala, slated for Wednesday, September 30th from 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City. Five small businesses will be awarded with a best practice award for:

➢ Green Business,
➢ Human Resources & Leadership,
➢ Marketing & Sales,
➢ Technology,
➢ Customer Service.

There is a $100 application-processing fee. Winners will be announced in front of the “who’s who” small business community and will be featured in The New York Enterprise Report’s November 2009 issue. The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 15th.

Over the age of 60?

The second awards ceremony is open for all Long Islanders who are at least sixty years of age and have done something to better their Long Island community. The deadline for nominations is Friday, April 10th.

The Second Annual Sixty over Sixty Awards Gala will take place on Tuesday, November 10th at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, NY from 6:00pm-10:00pm. Proceeds will go to the School Business Partnership of LI for the annual Robotics competition at Hofstra University.

Interested?

For the NY Enterprise Report Small Business Awards, get an application on line at nyreport.com.

For the 60 Over 60 Awards, you can get the application at sbpligala.com.

Or for both, you can call Stefanie Topper at HJMT COMMUNICATIONS, LLC at 516-997-1950 ext. 115.

Image by carf via Flickr

This article was written by Colleen Plunkett. Please read her story and help spread the word about the Empire State Games for people with disabilities!

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As a teacher and a mother of a special needs child, I know how important these games are to him. It’s a chance for my son to “fit in” and feel a sense of accomplishment. It is so great to see every child get a medal and a loud cheer everytime they cross the finish line.

I’ll never forget my son’s face when he ran to 100 m and everyone cheered his name and he waved back to the crowd. All the children will wait and cheer the next child on.There is no sporting organizations for special needs kids in the area. So for some students this is their only chance to be in this type of environment.

PS 229Q has been going to the games since 1978. The whole school helps fund raise for the games during the school year. The school cheers them on with a rally the day they leave. This is a very important day for all our kids. We need to save the games.

Please help me in my fight to save these games by signing an online petition on Facebook at: http://ad.vu/r8qw or you can email me if you think you can help at ColMuneca@yahoo.com. Thank you so much!

Image via Wikipedia

Last night, I was the “keynote” speaker at the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting. The meeting, held at Matteos in the West End of town, had nearly 50 merchants and business owners. I spoke about social media and building a community on line.

It was so nice to speak in front of this group, since this is where I started HJMT COMMUNICATIONS, LLC more than 17 years ago from my one bedroom apartment. I also grew up in Long Beach and went to High School there. So coming back and giving a presentation in the town really meant a lot to me.

I was pleasantly surprised at some of the questions that I was asked. Many of the people in the audience were savvy business people who already knew about social media. It made the question and answer part of the presentation all that more interesting.

Following the presentation, I was given a community service plaque. I was so honored to receive this. Special thanks to Michael Kerr, President of the Chamber, Warren Veigh, Executive Director and friend who invited me to this gig, and Larry Elovich, Chairman of the Board.

It was great to see some other long time friends at the meeting including David Feldman of E-Face Graphics, Debbie Bernstein of Edward Jones, and Fran Adelson from Prudential Realty.

At HJMT COMMUNICATIONS, we are going to give you a surprise. That’s right, a surprise! And who doesn’t love surprises?

What do you have to do? Join the HJMT Fan page on FACEBOOK and you can receive something very special! Join us on http://ad.vu/e55v by April 30 and a winner will be randomly picked on May 1, 2009.

Come on, join us…. it will be worth your while! Have a great day!