Ladies’ Chamber to hold membership night, Feb. 4

The Cheyenne County Ladies Chamber is inviting any woman in Cheyenne County to come to the chamber’s membership night Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. in the Security First Bank’s basement.

To make reservations to attend the membership night potential members should call Diane Scott, the ladies chamber president, at 254-2984 and leave their name and number.

The ladies meet every first Monday of the month at 6 p.m., except for the months of July and August, and usually gather in the same location at the bank, said Scott.

Dinner will be served at the membership night and there will be a short presentation explaining all of the activities that the chamber members are involved in.

Though Scott is unsure of the exact founding date of the chamber in Cheyenne County, she said that they have been helping make the county better for many years, with some of the original members now in their 80s.

“We are just here as a service organization to promote Cheyenne County and to do anything possible to make it better,” the chamber president said.

One of the downtown beautification projects that Scott said chamber members have been involved in in more recent years isthe purchasing of planters and some of the benches in downtown Sidney to make the town more appealing.

Scott said that chamber members also help with the newcomers’ picnic and that members used to distribute information packets to any town newcomer before information on new residents became more private.

Other activities of the chamber include a farmers’ market, decorating light poles in town, a 4th of July Social, holding community blood drives, providing a scholarship to a student at the WNCC Sidney campus and participating in other downtown beautification projects such as the garden walk and purchasing garbage containers.

Probably the project that the chamber is most known for however is its dress down days. “On the third Friday of every month we have dress down days and people apply to receive the funds that we generate from that,” said Scott. “We give the money to an organization that is doing something within Cheyenne County.”

Scott said that the money stays within the county and organization members are asked to buy what they need locally if possible.

How dress down days work is a business or individual chooses to pay or donate $2 to the chamber’s cause every third Friday so that they can dress down and wear jeans at work or around the community.

“We have people from all the communities within Cheyenne County that do it.

It’s not just a Sidney thing,it’s Dalton, Gurley, Lodgepole and Potter - they all participate,” she said.“Businesses or individuals can do it and some people pay if they want to give money for certain project we are focusing onor some people just pay $24 a year to advance pay.”

Scott said that the chamber’s current membership is around 35 women and there is no membership limit or age limit.

“I always say it’s for women from 18-years-old to 100,” she said.

The president said however that she really wishes more young people and more out of town residents would join and get involved with the chamber.

The annual dues for members is $15.

Even though the ladies chamber is a division of the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce, Scott said that a member does not have to be affiliated with a business to join.

“It is open to any woman no matter if they are a stay at home mom or wherever they work, they are more than welcome,” Scott said.

“We do a lot that is good for the community. Anytime that we can make something look better, anytime that we can get out there and promote this area, it only helps the whole area.”