[ community ]
Samantha Cart
Celebrating
For the Spring 2016 issue, West Virginia
Executive (WVE) partnered with companies and organizations from Parkersburg
to showcase the city’s business community and the potential they represent in
the Mountain State. In June, a special
networking reception was held at the
Grand Pointe Conference & Reception
Center to continue the celebration. The
event brought business leaders from the
area together in an effort to ignite conversation about the great strides Parkersburg is making in economic development,
downtown revitalization and growth.
“My favorite part of Parkersburg is
working and living in an area where many
people could easily choose to go across the
river to Ohio but instead choose to stay
because they want to raise their families in
West Virginia in a safe community where
you don’t have to look very far to find
people doing good things to support the
state every day,” says Kristin Meeks, owner
of WV Social Media Consultants LLC. “The
Celebrate Parkersburg reception brought
together many people I work with daily
from all industries, public and private
sectors, and it was great to see all of these
people interested in supporting the city.”
The festive night of networking was more
than just a celebration, however. After a
last-minute request from the WVE staff,
donations poured in at the event for victims
of the major flooding that affected thousands of West Virginians the week before.
Attendees generously brought in supplies
and also made monetary donations to the
Tracy Toler
Parkersburg
American Red Cross. WVE’s staff delivered the donations to sites in Clendenin
and Clay the following day.
Sharon Kesselring, executive director of
the American Red Cross of Northwest West
Virginia, attended the Celebrate Parkersburg reception to assist with the donations.
“The American Red Cross has had
boots on the ground since the first day of
flooding, addressing the immediate emergency needs of sheltering and feeding those
affected,” Kesselring said at the reception. “I want to thank those who, at West
Virginia Executive’s urging, brought along
donations of supplies and West Virginia
Executive for putting on this event and
allowing us the opportunity to collect
donations. This is what we call turning
compassion into action.”
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