Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure to attend SCORE Lancaster-Lebanon’s 2018 Small Business Awards Luncheon held at Millersville University’s Ware Center. This luncheon is always a great place to hear more of SCORE’s success stories. This year was no different.
SCORE provides our community with many resources for local entrepreneurs. These include providing free business counseling through its mentors, facilitating round-table discussions among local small businesses, and teaching educational workshops on how to start and improve a small business. SCORE’s workshops hold a special place in my heart because I have helped teach one of the workshop sessions for several years now (or perhaps more appropriately, I help translate the legalese of forming a corporation or LLC into an outline of what a small business owner should know).
How good is our local chapter at these services? Well… it was officially announced yesterday that for the second time in five years, the Lancaster-Lebanon chapter of SCORE has been declared the national chapter of the year! Our SCORE chapter continues to see double-digit growth in its client base year over year as it helps create hundreds of small businesses and jobs here in our community.
So back to yesterday’s event. Every year, SCORE holds its awards luncheon to recognize five of its clients for their excellence. I was thrilled to see Anne Kirby receive one of this year’s awards for her success with The Candy Factory. The Candy Factory is our firm’s go-to co-working space to get a change of pace from the law firm environment and to network with incredible people helping to drive Lancaster’s thriving economy.
This year’s other winners included Beck Care Managers, CovenantMD, The Fence Experts, and the United Way of Lancaster County’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA). The diversity of these winners reinforced for me the breadth and significance of SCORE’s work here in Lancaster. From non-profit to for-profit, from start-up to existing enterprise, SCORE has helped these businesses reach another level of success.
Congratulations to all of the winners! The rest of the Russell, Krafft & Gruber team and I look forward to continuing to work with SCORE and its clients for many years to come.