By John Perozzi, Owner, Beacon Auto and Truck Collision and Member of the P.M.A.C. Steering Committee

We all experience stress for many reasons, but some of the hardest types of stress to deal with are those linked to change. Recently, there has been a change in our local business networking landscape.

Nearly five years ago, the Business, Industry, and Government Council of Pennsauken Township, also known as the B.I.G. Council, was originally formed in the 1980s as a way for the Township of Pennsauken to help assist in developing, promoting and encouraging greater and more successful business and industrial activity within the Township. The B.I.G. Council was revitalized so that the Township and the business community could come together to help each other and the community of Pennsauken.

During those first few years, Pennsauken Township was forced to tighten the belt so as to keep taxes in line and important projects going strong; the B.I.G. Council helped to insuring the continuation of long-loved community projects, such as the Holiday Parade and the Car and Bike Show. Many great things happened during these five years, thanks to the Township of Pennsauken and the B.I.G. Council.

Yet even with all these successes, there was a realization that while the B.I.G. Council offered many advantages, there were, as with most things in life, some disadvantages. Some people felt that the group was stymied by only having a very tight scope of activity.

By forming the new Pennsauken Merchantville Area Chamber of Commerce, or P.M.A.C., the organization can move forward as a group and help the Township of Pennsauken in ways that the B.I.G. Council could not. We, as a group, can work with even more organizations and towns, expanding past Pennsauken and Merchantville to Cherry Hill, Cinnaminson, and other neighboring communities. P.M.A.C.’s scope as a business network and friend to the community now has the ability to be much further reaching. We can make even more impactful contributions to the overall prosperity and quality of life to the regional area by business-to-business and business-to-government networking and community service.

So while change can be a challenge, change offers great opportunity for everyone involved. P.M.A.C., and the changes the organization represents, should prove to be one of these times.